Stargate Millennium: Legacy
by StargateMillennium
Summary: Earth knows about the stargate. A plan to form a new Alliance of great races is now in motion. Tensions between allies are at an all time high and threaten to destroy what they've built. An old enemy has returned. And with Millennium reconnected with Earth, Wolf Pack will need to try to preserve the legacy of the heroes who came before them.
1. Prologue

**PROLOGUE**

You look ahead, your field of view narrowed by the black abyss surrounding you. All you can see is the floor ahead, cold and concrete. It looks like you're in a warehouse of some sort. Before you is a table with a single lamp providing the only light in the room. Beside the desk was an office chair.

A man walks into that circle of light, picking up a bottle of alcohol on the table and pouring himself a glass. You can't tell anything about the man. He is tall but his figure was hidden by a black long coat and hood. He wore black gloves over his hands so you can tell absolutely nothing about him. He turned around, but his face was hidden beneath a white porcelain theater mask.

"Ah, you're awake," he said, setting down the glass on the table. "You're probably wondering what's happening. What's been going on for the last few years. Well, allow me to catch you up."

The man's expression may have been hidden behind the mask, but his gestures were large and dramatic. Even the way he spoke was very dramatic, like an actor chewing the scene he was in. But there was something about the way he presented himself that disturbed you, like there was more to this man than he was letting on.

The man walked over and sat down in the chair, letting himself get comfortable.

"Well you see, while exploring the Atlantis database, they found references to a city built by all four races in the Alliance of Four Great Races," he said. "They called it Millennium. And because governments lack originality, they decided to send in international expedition on a one-way mission. Sound familiar?" The man let out a laugh and swatted the air.

"Anyways, the Millennium Expedition is headed by a General William Mercer, a man who is…more than he seems. But he's not the focus of our tale. Our focus is on Wolf Pack, one of the many teams in the expedition. The team is led by Major Terra Nova. Joining her is Doctor Steven Chen and Flight Lieutenant Charles Martin. Her resident alien on the team is a Professor Corin Nevec. Though, they would be getting several more aliens along the way. They have feirri terrorist, Soren Stavig, joining them. And they have Sir Samanya Arcturus, Knight of Aurox."

You look off into the darkness. You can't see anything, but you would swear there was something in the shadows.

"Now, Wolf Pack has been working pretty closely with some other members of the Expedition too. From the team the Dusk Riders, they've been working with Major Jennifer Hailey, a familiar face for you I'm sure. There's also Doctor Kara Osborn chief medical officer. Over the past four years, our band of 'heroes' have been on quite a few adventures. They've encountered the Ror'char, the generic evil empire. They've encountered an all-male race called the fierri. They've encountered the first Fifth Race, the Quinterans. They've met the ocean Nox and have even finally met the Furlings."

The masked man was about to speak more but a figure emerged from the darkness behind him. The masked man paused as the newcomer bent over and whispered in his ear.

"I fear I have to cut our discussion short," the masked man said. "But that's the short version. A new band of heroes exploring a new galaxy. As for me? I decided to tell your planet about the stargate program."

You look around, more figures emerging from the darkness around you. They are all dressed in black, some in long coats, others in military gear. Some wear gas masks. Some have hoods.

"You see, our story did take a bit of a change," the masked man said, standing up. "As it turns out, those in charge of the Millennium Expedition are not all that they seem. And Major Nova has bitten off more than she can chew. And now with the FF-305 Typhon, it seems some new plans are set into motion."

You watch as the masked man picks up the bottle of alcohol on the table, opening it and holding it sideways. It is only then you notice something moving inside the bottle. You feel your stomach lurch as a long snake slowly slithers out. But it wasn't a snake. It was a black worm.

No.

It wasn't a worm either.

It had four glowing red eyes, three sets of webbed barbs, and four fanged mandibles. It coiled around the man's hand, screeching pitifully. The man held his hand up, the worm raising its head like a snake coiled to strike.

"The stage is set," he said darkly, slowly walking toward you. "The curtain rises. It is time for the show to begin."

The man releases his grip on the worm. Its coiled body unfurls at impossible speeds and it shoots at you like a bullet. You open your mouth to scream and it dives inside. You feel it force its way down your throat, gagging as it suddenly burrows into the skin. But before your world fades you black, you look at the masked man one last time, watching his eyes glow.

-.-

**A/N: Hey Y'all. So after I had first started this series, I did get a few ppl asking me about the decision to make it a series of 3 chapter stories instead of a single large one. I did it to keep in line with the episodic nature of the TV series. And also, back then I tried to do a one chapter a week schedule, a weekly adventure essentially. But I could not keep up the schedule. It turned to one every two weeks. Then one every month. Now one every two months. Also, I couldn't exactly just change the style at the drop of a hat. I had to wait until a major turning point in the plot. Well, a major turning point just happened. So, I'm switching gears. On the plus side, I can now explore some world-building ideas I couldn't work into 3 chapter stories since they wouldn't really fit in with those plots. **

**I've also started a bit of a handguide. It's for me to keep all my info in one place so I can avoid retcons, so put down things I couldn't really find a place for in the chapters, and so that other ppl who haven't read SGM can get an idea of what's going on.**

**Also, SCE. I do intend to bring in more alien and even familiar alien technology back into the fold. I don't really have plans for the Ancients. I actually wanted to distance myself from the Ancients since I felt they were overused and were demystified as a result and instead focus on the other races in the Alliance. And I do intend to bring back the Ori. There will be an attempt at an alliance with the Quinterans. And there is already a plan to ally with the Ror'char. Whether or not the alliance goes through it gonna depend on them and their belief systems. And at the moment I dont' really have any plans for destiny. Though, that might change in the future.**


	2. Homecoming

This was the second time Nova's ever really been on a starship in hyperspace before. When she served on Atlantis she got there via Midway. Typhon's trip back to Millennium was her first time. And this was her second. So standing in front of the window, staring at the aurora of various shades of blue streak past like an azure rainbow, she could not help but be awed. She actually wondered what would happen if a person stuck their hand out. Ok, maybe not wondered. Considering they were moving at faster-than-light speeds in subspace, the hand would probably be torn to shreds. But what if it didn't? What would that blue rainbow outside feel like?

That beautiful visage was torn away when the ship suddenly exited hyperspace, the rainbow pallet disappearing and replaced with the dull black.

Nova turned away from the window. She was told Samantha Carter had devised away to have the Typhon travel between the two galaxies with ease. Now she wanted to know what it was.

The bridge of the Typhon was located in the center of the ship. It didn't have any windows of any sort to view out of. Instead, they relied on a series of monitors all along the walls to display what was happening. When she got to the bridge, she could see a sun on many of the ship's monitors.

"Connor," Nova said when she stepped onto the bridge. The old man was standing on the elevated platform in the center, gripping the railing.

"Major," Connor greeted. "Come to see the magic happen?"

"In a way," Nova said, walking up to the base of the platform. She wasn't sure if she was permitted to stand on it. But Connors held out a hand, inviting her on. She stepped onto the elevated platform, immediately noting a strange sense of power standing over everyone sitting around her.

"General Mercer mentioned that General Carter had devised a way to travel between Caldwell 70 and Milky Way. I'm wondering what that way is."

"Well, I'm no scientist," Connor sighed, rolling his shoulders. "But I can do my best to explain everything. What do you know about the mission code named Exodus?"

"It was the mission to kill Apophis and wipe out his fleet," Nova recited. "It's basic SGC history. SG-1 lured Apophis and his fleet to the Vorash system where they blew up its sun."

"And when they attempted to hyperjump away, they were launched to another galaxy in a matter of seconds," Connors added. "Carter theorized the supernova they triggered affected the hyperspace window created. Research into replicating this was done but consistently concluded that such a thing was too unpredictable to perform. However, using Alliance technology, she specially designed the Typhon's hyperdrive to take advantage of these massive energy spurts. They've dubbed this method zeta jumping."

"So, we can get back to Milky Way if we can find a supernova?" Nova asked.

"Even better. We can do it from a CME."

"A coronal mass ejection?!"

"Well, it can't be any CME. In order to make a zeta jump, the CME must be of a certain magnitude. And then calculations must be completed as to how far we must launch from and when. Even then, it's not precise. When we made the jump to NGC 300, we accidentally overshot and needed to make a two-day course correction."

"And if you're way off?" Nova asked curiously. If she recalled, the mothership that got launched went so far that, if she remembered correctly, it would've taken several hundred years to get back. Now, Goa'uld hyperdrives were nothing compared to Alliance hyperdrives. But, she rather not get stranded in space.

"At worst, we need a course correction of a few days," Connor said. "But I have been reassured that this is unlikely."

"Colonel," a technician called out. "Calculations are complete."

"Move us into position," Connor ordered. "Put me on intercom."

Another technician nodded, complying with the order, turning on the intercom throughout the ship.

"Attention," Connor boomed. "All hands, prepare for zeta jump." Connor looked at Nova. "You may want to hold onto something."

Nova gripped the railing at the edge of the platform. The inertial dampeners peak when entering hyperspace. The fact she still needs to hold on means that this launch was going to be pretty fast.

Nova watched the sun on the monitor rotate, her vantage point as the Typhon flew around it. Finally, she could see what looked like a fountain of golden light shooting out of the sun. Though fountain was a severe understatement. The sun was massive, the largest body in the solar system. And the ejection completely dwarfed the sun to the point it almost made it look like the handle of a baby rattle.

"Commencing zeta run," a technician announced. "Hyperspace runway plotted." Nova watched as the Typhon swooped near the ejection, the entire ship rocking as it neared the stream of solar mass shooting out.

"Zeta jump in three…two…one…"

A hyperspace window formed in front of the ship, and the blackness of space was washed away in a tumult of color. The entire ship was shaking like it was struggling to stay together.

"Zeta jump successful," one of the technicians said, voice raised to be heard over the rattling of the ship. "ETA: fifteen minutes."

-.-

Hailey stared at her plate of now cold and still untouched food. Mercer had let Hailey have a few more days off so she could grieve for Grogan. Couldn't exactly send a depressed soldier out on mission.

So here she sat in the mess hall, wallowing in her misery. She kept replaying the events of a few days ago in her head, thinking of all the ways she could've done things differently. Maybe if she hadn't been so careless, she wouldn't have gotten in that shield trap. Maybe if she had just said things a bit differently, she could've talked Grogan down. Maybe she could've found him sooner if she had better utilized her life signs scanner. Maybe she could've saved Grogan if she went with him to the ship. Maybe she could've avoided it entirely if she simply didn't let him go.

She sighed and stood up. Mercer had a thing about binning good food but there wasn't much she could do with her food. She wasn't hungry. She straightened her blue letterman jacket. But when she looked toward the door of the cafeteria, she froze in her tracks. She could see two men at the far table, talking to each other.

It couldn't be…

"Carl…" Hailey breathed. "Kevin?"

It was impossible. Yet there they were. Carl Grogan and Kevin Elliot talking to each other. Her legs felt numb as she hobbled forwards, her mind in a fog. They were there. Her friends were right there alive and well. They weren't dead. All she had to do was reach them.

That fog was abruptly ripped away when she felt something collide with her.

She looked up. It was one of the plumbers, still in their work uniform and clearly on break.

"Sorry about that," Hailey managed to choke out as the plumber managed to not drop his carton of milk.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "It's not your fault."

Hailey didn't know why but that statement cut deep. She looked toward where she saw Grogan and Elliot. But all she saw were two men who bore absolutely no resemblance to her absent friends.

Of course, it wasn't them. Why did she even for a moment think it was?

She needed a nap or something. Something to clear her mind. She ended up hobbling out of the cafeteria. Her mind was in such a haze she didn't even remember the walk back to her room.

She walked inside.

Time was supposed to help her recover. But, if anything, time was making it worse. She felt even more stupefied than before.

-.-

In the Milky Way a hyperspace window formed, a tear in the fabric of space time that looked like shimmering clouds of dust. But this wasn't the usual hyperspace window. It was golden with streaks of purple clouds.

From the cloud came the Typhon, bursting through the cloud like it was a wall of mist. Small glimmering particles came floating off the ship, propelled by the momentum and sprayed forth like water droplets off a wet surface.

The frigate slowed to a halt, getting its bearings.

From within, technicians were reporting the success of the jump.

"Calculating coordinates," one of them announced to the captain. "Confirmed, we are in the Milky Way."

"We are approximately fifty-six light years from our target destination," another added.

"Still working out the kinks?" Nova asked.

"We were actually surprisingly accurate," Connor said. "I feared we would either stop short or overshoot the galaxy."

Nova looked at the screens. They showed nothing but the blackness of space. She didn't know why she expected anything else.

"So what now?" she asked.

"I'm afraid we are ordered to make a pit stop at the Reetou new homeworld."

Nova had to do a double take.

"Wait…reetou?!" she stuttered. How much had changed while she was away?

"Yeah, we sat down with them to talk about forming an alliance with them," Connor explained. "We're dropping you and two teams on a nearby planet. The gate is located next to the village. Trade relations have been established with the locals so they should just let you use it. We're dropping you five kilometers away so you'll have to walk your way there."

"And why can't you just drop us at the village?" Nova asked.

"New SGC policy. Capital ships can't come within certain distances of primitive settlements depending on their size. Wrecks farmland and scares livestock."

This whole conspiracy was really getting to her. Part of her began to wonder if Connor was a part of it, or of this mission was part of the IOA's plan for her. A lot could happen in a five kilometer walk.

"Reeds, prepare to take us back to hyperspace," Connor ordered.

Nova watched the monitors along the walls. The blackness of space was soon replaced with azure streaks as the ship went into hyperspace.

"Major," Connor said. "I advise you ready yourself for disembarkation."

Nova nodded, walking away. She had to get dressed and ready. First place she went was the locker rooms. She was so used to the black BDU's on Millennium it felt almost odd for her to put on a green one.

Her next stop was the armory where she picked up her AR-57. She looked at the carbine. Times were changing way faster than she was ready for. The P90 was the standard issue weapon when she joined with the MP7A1 slowly replacing it. Now, the AR-57 was working its way up the ranks.

Picking up a few magazines, she noticed that that the ship was carrying more plasma-tipped rounds too.

'Ground team, we're approaching the planet. ETA: five minutes. Prepare for disembarkation."

Nova sighed. She couldn't stay there forever. She was already ready for disembarkation.

Now all that was left was to go to the ring platform.

Typhon was a small ship. Ok, it wasn't small. But it was smaller than most capital ships. It was made for stealth and hit-and-run rather than direct combat. So reaching the ring room didn't take long.

Like the corridors, the ring room wasn't inviting at all. The rooms on the 304 had some effort put into comfort. But the 305 did not get the same treatment. It was built for utility and nothing more, dull gray walls and a darker gray floor. The room was tight and even with the small squad it was packed.

Nova stepped through the door, her boots hitting the ground with a thump.

"Gentlemen," she announced. "The Typhon won't be making it to Earth. We're to make a rendezvous at a human village before gating back to the SGC. "Any questions?"

Nova scanned the room, looking at the squad of a dozen soldiers. No one spoke up.

"Lieutenant," Nova called out. One of the soldiers stepped forward, a rather lanky man with messy blonde hair. "Any more preparations?"

"No, ma'am," the Lieutenant said. Nova nodded. Nothing more needed to be said.

"Roll out!"

-.-

Hailey looked at Chen. She wasn't sure what to do about him right now. She needed to speak to him. But she also knew he'd been really busy lately. She didn't want to wake him up. He had fallen asleep in his lab, leaning back in his chair with his head just dangling backwards. His computer had his screensaver playing, images of him and Doctor Osborn fading in and out. Even though those two had broken up years ago, he still kept that as his screen saver.

Hailey stared at Steven for another moment. She had decided. She was going to wake him up. The question is: how? Chen tended to be in a bad mood when you woke him up and she needed him to be happy if she wanted to ask him for this favor.

She looked around, spotting a plastic water bottle next to him. She picked up the bottle and unscrewed the cap. She dipped her finger in the water before holding her wet finger above Chen's head. The water on her finger slowly gathered at the tip before finally dropping down onto Chen's forehead.

Chen flinched at the water droplet hitting his head. After a moment, another droplet hit his forehead.

At that moment, Chen bolted to his feet. His motion was so violent the chair was sent flying backwards and hitting the ground with a loud clatter. Hailey jumped back, rather terrified by how violent Chen was at that moment. Chen now stood up, hands in the air and ready for a fight, looking around for his foe.

A beat later and he realized there was no foe. It was just Hailey waking him up.

"Seriously…" Chen muttered in annoyance, putting his hands down. He went over the picked the chair off the ground. It crashing over had made such a ruckus he wouldn't be surprised if someone from an adjacent lab came over just to find out what the noise was.

"Have you ever thought about talking to someone about that?" Hailey asked, capping the bottle and putting it back on the desk.

"What? My obnoxious coworkers?"

"No, your paranoia and violent tendencies."

"Violent tendencies?" Chen repeated, shaking his computer mouse to awake it up.

"I know Doc Osborn always said not to wake you up but…" Hailey whistled.

"So why didn't you take Kara's advice?" Chen asked gruffly. He pulled the chair under him and scooted up to the desk, ready to get back to work.

"Steven, hold up…" Hailey said.

"Sorry, Jen, I got work," Chen huffed. "Transport from the SGC means new projects to look over. I don't have time for…" Chen's voice trailed off. "Are you here about Carl?"

"W-what?" Hailey stuttered, caught off guard by this question. "No. No. Steven…thank you for…everything. But I just want to…move on."

Chen looked at Hailey, not sure what to say for a moment. She was clearly still affected.

"I guess I could use a break…" Chen said, closing his laptop. He pushed himself away from the table and turned to look at Hailey. "What do you need?"

Jennifer froze for a moment, not sure what to say.

"How's Corin?" she asked awkwardly. It was very apparent she was just trying to find a talking point that wasn't about what she really wanted to talk about.

"Locked in his room," Chen sighed. "Charles and I can't get him out. He's not taking the idea of an alliance with the Ror'char all too well."

Jennifer couldn't blame him. The Ror'char government was a dictatorship that silenced dissent with the excuse that opposing opinion was dangerous. Corin's wife was among the killed. On their wedding day of all times too. Hailey could only imagine how he felt. Actually, she had an idea how he felt losing someone he cared about. Maybe not to the same degree but she had an idea.

Hailey opened her mouth but realized she didn't know what to say.

She leaned against the counter, clasping her hand in front of her. She took in a shuddering breath.

"Actually…" she said. "This is about Grogan."

Chen sighed, putting his hand to his face. He's faced some pretty hard loss in the past. He did witness the murder of his family. So, he knew lingering on it would not help. But he also knew saying it was easier than doing it.

"Look, Jen," Chen said, rubbing his forehead. "If you need something to distract yourself, just ask."

"I've been thinking what happened and…" Hailey said, ignoring Chen's remarks. "It doesn't make sense. We assumed the IOA and the conspiracy silenced Grogan. But…they told Terra and Terra told us."

"And here we are talking about it…" Chen said, nodding his head.

"I don't trust the IOA, but silencing someone…I don't know, I don't buy it."

Chen stared at Hailey, not sure how to respond. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she was still grieving. Soldiers were still people. No matter how many battles they see, how much death they witness, they never become immune to the horror. Well, most of them anyways. Grogan may not have died on the battlefield but he did shoot himself right before her eyes.

And thus he had no idea how to respond. If Hailey had a point, then it did deserve being looked into. And it was also possible Hailey was just clinging onto something to help her grieve.

Chen took a deep breath, held it for a moment, then slowly let it out. Humoring her may be the best option. If Hailey was right and it wasn't the IOA, then investigating it was the best course of action. And even if it wasn't, this may have been a good distraction.

"Ok, so the IOA didn't silence Grogan," Chen said hypothetically. "So, what could it be? Could it actually be an accident?"

"That's option two," Hailey said, brushing her hair aside. "But, there is a third option. I think there's something else, something other than the conspiracy, something that Grogan came close to uncovering. And I want you to help me find it, Steven."

And suddenly the idea of humoring Hailey seemed like a bad idea. Could she be so grief-stricken that she is making things up in her mind?

"Ok…what makes you think that?" Chen asked.

Hailey sighed, running her fingers through her hair. Carl's face flashed before her eyes. She wanted Chen's help. But she was afraid of what that meant. She and Steven have fought side by side before. But this…this scared her. This wasn't an enemy she could face down on a battlefield, employ squad tactics against. She really had no idea what she was up against.

The walls had ears; the shadows had eyes. They could be watched at any moment, and anything could leap out at any time to get them.

She had walked into Chen's lab, hellbent on discovering the truth. Now, she was questioning what she was even thinking dragging him into this. Whatever had killed Grogan knew he was onto something. What if Chen gets involved and they find out?

"Never mind," Hailey said, backing up. "This was a bad idea anyways." Hailey was about to leave but Chen bolted to his feet and grabbed her by the shoulder.

"What're you hiding?" he asked suspiciously. He could see the fear in Hailey's face. And considering how calm and collected she is under fire, if something could scare Hailey then it was something to be worried about.

Hailey sighed, finally relenting.

"Grogan was showing me something he found in the SGC's transmission," she said in a hushed tone. "Some sort of modulation in the background of the carrier."

Chen paused when he heard this. Hailey specialized in physics and Chen specialized in engineering. But there was crossover.

"And that didn't seem odd to you?" Chen asked.

"Well…no," Hailey said. "These were scheduled transmissions between the SGC and our allies. Hell, some of them were from Atlantis to the SGC. It could be anything. It could be from the equipment. It could even be sending some of the more classified documents. Some of the more advanced pieces of Alliance technology…when we sent our research back to the SGC, we would encrypt the data and attach it as a subtle modulation wave. It could've just been that. Carl didn't exactly have the credentials." Hailey ran her fingers through her hair, suddenly kicking herself for not realizing earlier. "I guess it's also possible a spy was sending transmissions."

"Which doesn't bode well for your 'it's someone else' theory," Chen muttered. "Alright, so let's retrace his steps. Show me the stuff he showed you."

Chen could see the hesitation written all over Hailey's face.

"Oh, c'mon, Jenny," Chen sighed. "You're a soldier. What're you so scared of?"

Hailey resisted the urge to slap Chen with that little sentence. Sure it seemed like she had nothing to be scared of. She's been in firefights, faced down enemy jaffa, every time she's stepped through the gate it was a calculated risk that she or one of her friends wasn't going to return.

But this was different. This wasn't an enemy she could face. She didn't know if it was an enemy she could comprehend. She didn't know the risks at all. For all she knew, getting Chen involved was a death sentence.

"What am I scared of?" Hailey scoffed. "I don't know! And that's the problem! It might be the Tok'ra that killed Carl. It might be something else entirely! I don't know what we're up against, how to fight it or anything!"

Chen looked at Hailey sadly. He could tell she was still in shock watching her own friend kill himself before her eyes. Mercer had granted Hailey time off to recover, but it seemed she wanted to bury herself in her work.

Chen sighed, rolling his eyes. He made his way to the door, not even bothering to say anything to Hailey

"Wait, where you going?!" Hailey asked in panic.

"Well, you're on the fence," Chen said, walking out the door with Hailey in tow. "So, I've made the decision for you. I'm going to investigate this. Now the only question is whether you are going to help me. You can't order me since I'm not military and you aren't team leader so…." Chen held his arms out to mock her position.

Hailey sighed. She couldn't stay on the fence. She had to make a choice, and Steven had made his.

"Alright," she said. "I'll show you what he got."

-.-

A third ring transport later and the entire squad from the Typhon was on the ground. Nova quickly counted the squadmates, making sure everyone had been transported.

Yup, they were all here. All the supplies were tied to a MULE. The six-wheeled vehicle even had a cart attached to it to carry more supplies.

"Lieutenant," Nova said, scanning the landscape. "Do we know where the village is in relation to us?"

"About five klicks south," the Lieutenant explained. Nova reran the mission in her mind. Deliver the supplies then head to the gate. Simple mission.

It would be a nice way to get reacquainted with the Milky Way.

"Alright, boys," Nova announced. "Roll out!"

And so the walk began. She and her troops made their way through the forest, stepping over logs and foliage. The MULE was guided around obstacles.

Five klicks, five kilometers, a little over three miles. The walk was simply mildly annoying. And she wasn't doing a recon mission so she had a pretty big pack of supplies on her back as well.

After about forty minutes of walking, Nova was getting impatient. As she stepped to the top of a hill and looked ahead. Village was in sight. Wouldn't be long now.

She looked behind her. She was almost admiring the distance she had traversed when she noticed something.

"Hold up," she ordered, holding up a fist. On command, her men stopped, immediately assessing their surroundings.

Something behind them had caught her attention. They were going through a thick forest so she couldn't see that far. But she could see some shapes in the distance. Large black shapes moving through the trees.

Nova squinted at the black shape in the distance, trying to figure out what it is. She was already missing her team. She could just ask Martin to look at it through his scope. But he wasn't here right now.

She fumbled to take the binoculars out of her vest pocket, looking out across the forest. Her naked eye could only see a gray shape moving through the trees. So she brought her binoculars up, adjusting the focus to get a clearer image of the thing in the distance.

For a moment, she thought she was looking at an al'kesh. But it was too small. This thing was tiny. Well, it was large compared to her. But al'kesh were massive ships. This thing was slightly larger than a truck. And it floated just above the ground. She could only guess that the two massive glowing rails connected to the sides near the bottom was holding it up with its strange blue glow.

At the very least, she could identify the massive staff cannon resting atop the thing, connected to a dome. There seemed to be two smaller staff cannons on either side as well. Judging from its size, the two smaller staff cannons were artillery cannons jaffa often have mounted on tripods. Considering the destructive power of those staff cannons, Nova dreaded to see the capability of the center one, which was even bigger.

"Major?" the lieutenant asked. "What is it?"

The rest of the group had stopped to look at the thing as well, some of them taking up defensive positions.

"I don't know," she said. She was trying to piece together what she could be looking at. The village she was going to was...well...a village. The natives were primitive. This thing was clearly of Goa'uld design. Or at least Goa'uld technology. And considering entire stockpiles were left behind after the downfall of the System Lords, that thing could have been built by anyone. Lucian Alliance? Jaffa? Or maybe some other aliens who got their hands on Goa'uld technology.

The thing hovered for a bit, strafing to the side to readjust itself. Suddenly, six glowing orbs seemed to fly out the back of it and into the air.

"And what the hell is that?" the Lieutenant asked.

Nova felt her shoulders tense.

"Look, I'll tell you when I figure it out, ok!" she snapped. Nova cursed under her breath at her outburst. That was the reaction of a hormonal teenage girl, not a military officer. Still, the Lieutenant immediately backed down as Nova looked back through the binoculars, still fixated on the orange orbs in the air.

With how similar to the al'kesh the thing in the distance was, those orbs reminded her of…

Nova's eyes widened.

"Incoming!' she cried out. Everyone around her dove for cover as the orange orbs finally came down.

Nova wanted to slap herself for not recognizing them before. They were plasma charges, the same ones used by al'kesh during bombing runs.

The charges came crashing down, hitting the trees above them, the balls of energy exploding on impact. Flames burst like bubbles of fire, liquid inferno raining from the sky. The trees were splintered before coming crashing down upon the troupe below. Splinters and debris fell from above, flaming logs crashing to the floor.

"Major!" the Lieutenant yelled. "We need to head to the village. We'll have better cover there."

"Wait," another soldier yelled. "If we go to the village, we'll be putting them in danger."

Major put her hand to her head. She had to pick one. Face the thing in the distance exposed? Or endanger the village? Fighting that thing in the forest was suicide. Even the missed shots were deadly since they could bring down the trees around them. But if she used the village for cover, every shot would potentially kill an innocent civilian who happened to be in the wrong place.

"Look out!' one of her squadmates screamed as an orange bolt of energy tore through the trees. It was a bolt from the main gun. It tore through the trees hitting the ground, the dirt bursting like a bubble as a massive wall of fire erupted from the impact, a thick haze rising into the air. The blast was nowhere near her but it was so intense that she could feel the shockwave ripple across her skin. The tree next to the blast toppled over, several of her squadmates diving out of the way.

She didn't have time to ponder.

"Village!" she ordered. "Everyone, head to the village!"

The village was the closest clearing to them. They couldn't remain in the forest or even missed shots would be dangerous.

The entire squad sprinted in the direction of the village. The MULE's quickly followed. They must have been upgraded since they could now move at the same speed as a running man, managing to keep up.

She joined her squad and took off through the forest. Plasma charges continued raining upon them, everyone having to dodge left and right to avoid the trees falling on top of them. Cannon bolts of various sizes streaked past. The world before her had shrunk to a narrow window as adrenaline closed her peripheral vision. She couldn't tell the exact details of the chaos unfolding around her, only that death was literally raining from the sky.

It took what felt like years but, finally, they emerged from the woods. Sunlight poured upon the squad as they escaped the shadow of the forest and headed back to the village.

She could already see villagers with the M16's and P90's given to them running to find positions to shoot from.

"Lennox, Briggs, cover the rear!" Nova ordered as they reached the buildings. "Baston, find a vantage point. Lieutenant!"

The Lieutenant immediately answered the call, rushing up beside Nova as they both leapt over a stone wall and behind cover.

"Yes, Major," he responded, ready for her commands. Nova could see the gate on the far side of the village. They needed to call for help and they needed to do it now.

"Get in contact with the SGC and request backup," Nova ordered, pointing at the stargate.

The Lieutenant immediately complied, rushing for the DHD.

Nova peeked over cover and sprayed a volley of bullets at the target, watching as it emerged from the tree line, the front row of trees toppling over like dominoes in a cloud of dirt and splinters as the thing burst forward. The thing was now opening fire with all weapons. Plasma charges were launched from its rear, flying into the air before coming back down. The two staff cannons were both raining hell on the houses.

The artillery cannons tore through walls like they were tissue paper and the whole house would go up in flame from the explosion inside. The blast from the main cannon would go through multiple houses before stopping.

They sprayed their weapons in the direction of the war machine, watching as an orange shield formed in front of it, blocking the bullets then vanishing again. Several grenades were tossed, landing underneath. But the explosions and shrapnel were stopped by the same shield.

"Baston," Nova said through the radio. "Any visual on other hostiles?"

"Negative, ma'am," Baston replied. "It's just us and that thing."

Nova covered her face as the ground on the other side from the wall exploded. She couldn't see the blast but she could feel the pressure wave across her skin, see the sky directly above her darken for moment as debris came raining down before brightening again as the dirt cleared.

"Lennox" Nova yelled to the man in the distance. "Help get the women and children away from the combat zone!'

"Yes, ma'am," he answered, rushing out from behind cover to help the villagers as they desperately ran for cover.

-.-

"Give me a status update."

This was Landry's order as he came down the spiral staircase to the control room.

"General," Walter said, his hands flying across the keyboard. "We're getting a call from a team on P7F-521. They're saying they're under fire from an unknown hostile. IDC matches the team the Typhon was supposed to bring in."

"Unidentified attack craft!" a voice yelled through the radio. "Under fire from goa'uld weapons. Request immediate assistance."

The situation was established. The question was now: what was the response?

"Walter, I want a UAV on the floor and ready to go five minutes ago," Landry ordered. Walter didn't even give a response, immediately going straight for his microphone as the gate shut off.

-.-

The thing was now attacking full bore. Nova could see it was still hovering just outside the village, probably to avoid getting surrounded if it got too close. Still, nothing they had was damaging it.

A grenade went through the shield and got lodged on one of the corners of the machine before exploding, its sleek gray surface getting scratched by the blast and shrapnel. But it remained unphased.

The massive staff cannon turret that served as its primary weapon rotated to target the next house. The heat of the orange bolt was so intense that when the cannon fired, a sphere seemed to explode from the barrel of the cannon, the heat and blast wave so intense that the air and particles immediately around it being forced away.

The attack craft drifted back a bit, pushed by the recoil of the shot, before floating forwards once more to maintain its position.

Nova let out a startled cry as one of the smaller staff cannons aimed at her and fired. She jumped out of the way just in time, the plasma bolt streaking past and hitting the ground behind her. The blast wave wasn't enough to kill her but it was enough to cause her to fall over. All sound vanished from the air except for a painful whistling.

-.-

The SGC gateroom filled with smoke as the UAV took off from its platform and through the shimmering wormhole.

"UAV away," Walter reported, the video telemetry appearing on several monitors above his and Landry's heads.

It wasn't Walter but another technician beside him that was controlling the UAV. But several people had their eyes on the monitors to see what was happening. The unmanned drone was clear of the gate by the time telemetry came in so it had to be steered back.

The gate on P7F-521 was in a forest so there was nothing but an endless field of trees across rolling hills in view. But as the UAV completed its 360 degree turn, the chaos could be seen. The battle had left a field of scorch earth, a swath of the forest burned away and creating a path straight to the village.

The clearing containing the village came into view. And, so did the thing.

Several of the technicians stood up in shock when they spotted the attack craft. An endless stream of destruction spewed from its weapons.

"I'll be damned," Landry muttered to himself.

"Sir?" Walter questioned, clearly not understanding Landry's reaction.

"I believe it's called a te'kar," Landry said. "A Jaffa Nation war carriage."

"But why would the Jaffa Nation attack a human village?"

"The jaffa reported that a transport ship full of these went missing a few months back."

"By who?"

"I'll be damn sure to find out. But for now, our people need orbital support." Landry's tone grew grave as he gave the new orders for all to hear. "Contact Homeworld Command. Roll out fire package on unknown target. Roll out the 306."

-.-

And with that command, the gears started clicking. Orders were sent and people were moving. Commands were sent down the pipe, received, and executed.

At Homeworld Command, the technicians passed the orders to their superiors, who then relayed it to the necessary personnel.

"Attention spacecraft, this is to be a danger close-fire mission."

"I just got a call from the Homeworld Command. Which 306 is closer to P7F-521?"

"We have two 306's on standby at the Beta Site."

"Alright. Roll out a 306 to P7F-521. It's going to be a danger close fire mission."

"This is FA-306 Virgil. Confirming fire mission. Splash in two minutes."

"Roger that, Virgil. You are permitted to fire at will."

"Repeat, this will be a danger close fire mission. Danger close."

-.-

In orbit around the planet, a hyperspace window opened as the FA-306 emerged. It was a dull gray, vaguely wedge shaped with four engines in the back. It was even smaller than the 305. But what it lacked in strength it made up for in cost effectiveness and versatility.

"This is Virgil in orbit around the planet. We have a lock on the target. Commencing bombing run."

Rail cannons, pulse cannons, the 306 opened fire on the planet. Whereas a 304 or 305 could not perform such a thing without wiping out their own troops, the 306 hit the target with pinpoint accuracy. It wasn't the fastest stream of weapons fire but it was steady. And it was all aimed at one thing.

-.-

On the planet, the ground around the te'kar exploded. Dirt and flames burst forth from the ground like some sort of bubble popping. The vehicle swerved and strafed, knocked off balance by the explosions. Within moments, the te'kar vanished behind the cloud of dirt and destruction. The sound of thunder rocked the landscape, the ground coughing up dirt and destruction. Each blast sent shockwaves in all directions that rippled the skin and rocked the fluids. All-consuming clouds of dirty engulfed the area, threatening to swallow all who get too close and never have them seen again.

And just as quickly as it began, it stopped. Hell had stopped raining from the heavens. The ground stopped spraying dirt and flames.

Nova peered out from her cover, a splotch of brown lingering in the air. He could see the black silhouette of the te'kar within. As the brown began to fade away, its gray surface faded in. The blurry became clear. At the center of its carnage was a massive scrap of burnt metal. The ground was completely torn asunder.

"You think they got him?" the Lieutenant asked.

-.-

"This is it?" Chen asked, looking at the readings. "A few hidden waveforms hidden on the carrier? Have you ever considered that someone above our pay grade ordered it to be put there?"

"Believe me, Steven, you aren't telling me anything I haven't already thought of," Hailey snapped in exasperation.

"So what makes you think these signals are from our mystery bad guy? I mean, all these are authorized signals between the SGC and its outposts."

"Maybe, but could we have been infiltrated? And all these communications are the spies passing information to each other? Is that possible?"

"Why you asking me?!" Chen snapped. Hailey had to acknowledge Chen had a point. He wouldn't know more about espionage than she would. "If you want an unprofessional opinion, if we have that many spies in our ranks that they can have secret phone calls with each other, we have way bigger issues."

Hailey had to also agree with that. Normally one or two spies would be a problem. But she had just suggested that the SGC's network had so many spies that they were conversing with each other. And while countries would establish spy networks, that's one or two spies in a branch, not dozens in one branch.

"Alright, let's say theoretically there were. Could this be an effective means of communication?"

"I guess. I mean, hiding signals on a carrier wave isn't anything new. With this method of communication, they'd be hiding all their transmissions in plain sight. We encrypt our signals but we don't really bother seeing if someone's piggybacking a message on them. We tend to rely on other security measure. But like I said, I'm the wrong person to ask."

Hailey sighed, running her fingers through her hair. She had no idea what to do next. Somebody wanted to keep this signal hidden.

"Steven, can you record the pattern on the hidden signal?" Hailey asked. "I'm going to bring back a file and I want you to compare it to see if it has the same hidden pattern?"

Chen stared at Hailey in confusion.

"You don't want me to come with you?" he asked.

"I need to do this part by myself," Hailey said, swiftly leaving the room. The moment she got outside, she closed the door behind her, putting her hand up to her mouth. Talking with Chen about the signals like that, talking about getting the Typhon's files, it reminded her of Grogan. It reminded her of Elliot. At the very end of their conversation, an image of Chen's corpse flashed in her mind. She had already lost two people she cared about, one a few days ago before her very eyes.

She was already regretting bringing him in. She didn't know what she was up against. What was she thinking bringing him in? Whatever this was, she was going to have to figure it out by herself.

-.-

Nova stared at the defense condition on the wall of the SGC. Five colored blocks, each with a number inside, each block representing a defense condition. Normally the bottom blue block, DEFCON 5, would be lit. But it wasn't.

Not anymore.

The middle yellow block, DEFCON 3, was lit up. The entire US military was ready to deploy. Every branch was working around the clock to gather intel. And from what she's heard, it's been in DEFCON 3 for a while now.

For most, DEFCON whatever didn't mean much. But as a military officer, the fact that it got so close to DEFCON 1 was chilling. If DEFCON 1 hits, you better have said your goodbyes because nuclear war is imminent.

There was a TV in the SGC conference room playing the news reports.

'Already five states have declared state of emergency. However, the sight of armed forces on the street seems to have simply increased unrest. At least two local police officers were killed after a hit and run. A standoff this morning turned into a shootout leaving twelve dead.''

Nova couldn't take it anymore. She walked over to the TV and began searching the cart for the remote. The news reporter's voice was soon replaced as a video of someone getting arrested was pulled.

'We aren't ready for the stargate! Want proof?! Just look at how all the morons around the world are reacting!'

'That was all we could get out of Tim Jarvis after he ran over three protesters in an anti-SGC protest.'

Forget the remote. She just pressed a button on the TV and flipped the channel.

'I'm just saying, we don't know what could be out there. We've been lucky so far and the SGC could use some more supervision or at least time to review its protocol.'

'I know what this is.'

'What?'

'You're a xenophobe, aren't you?'

'What? No! I just think we need to be more careful if we want to go around exploring the galaxy.'

'You're a xenophobe! Admit it!'

Nope. Nova flipped the channel again.

'We will not be fooled. We know the Earth is and has always been flat. We demand the government retract the hoax that is the Stargate Program.'

Click…

'ET, stay home! ET, stay home! ET, Stay home!'

Were there only news channels on this thing?!

Click…

Nova looked up as silence fell upon the room. What just happened? The TV had turned black. She looked up to see a familiar man standing behind the screen, a finger on the power button.

"Five hundred channels and nothing to watch, am I right?" the man remarked. "No point wasting your time on that."

"Colonel Mitchell!" Nova stuttered in surprise. She felt rather embarrassed that it never crossed her mind to simply turn off the TV. Even the thought that something like that slipped her mind made her feel painfully stupid.

"Colonel, it's me, Major Nova," she said. "We worked a raid against the Lucian Alliance once back when I was Captain."

"Actually, I might remember you…" Mitchell said, snapping his fingers. "You were on Harding's team, weren't you?"

"Yeah, that's me! I just got back from Millennium."

"Well, I guess we got you to thank for all the cool new toys. The techs are going crazy over it."

"You should see all the stuff we couldn't bring over," Nova chuckled. "Hey, out of curiosity, you know what happened to O'Neill or Carter? I couldn't get a hold of them."

"Jack and Sam? Retired. Don't know where. Can't blame them. Their names are so big no way they can live normal lives anymore."

Nova felt rather sad by that. Anyone who was a part of the Stargate Program knew the members of SG-1 were heroes. They've saved Earth on multiple occasions. Now they couldn't even retire in peace.

"What about everyone else?" she asked.

"Well, Jackson's over at the UN, still trying to save the world. Last I heard from Teal'c, he was talking about starting a farm with Ishta."

"What about you?" Nova asked. "Why haven't you retired yet?"

"Well, even without the Ori, there are still more bad guys out there that Earth needs protection from."

"If they even deserve saving by this point…" Nova muttered. She looked up when she realized she said that a bit too loudly. But Mitchell didn't act like she was insane.

"Look, I know Earth's in a bit of a bad spot now," he said. "But you just have to have hope that this'll it'll all turn out ok."

"The night is darkest before the dawn," another voice said. Nova whipped around, spotting Landry standing at the door to his office.

"General!" she gasped, standing at attention.

"At ease, Major," Landry chuckled, walking in with a stack of papers under his arm. "Just got off a lengthy phone call with the IOA. Apparently, you're the woman of the hour."

Nova had to stifle a laugh at the irony of that statement. Woman of the hour? More like the IOA's pet. She still believed in what the conspiracy claimed to be doing. It was whether or not they were actually being honest with her.

"Any word on the village?" Nova asked.

"The village is fine, Major," Landry insisted. "You can't keep beating yourself up over your decision."

"With all due respect, sir, I ordered my troops to take cover in that village. I put noncombatants in the crossfire."

"You relocated your troops from a disadvantageous position," Landry corrected. "If your squad got wiped out, that village would've been next."

"Well, I hope the mothers who had to watch their sons get blown up feel the same… General, if you don't' mind me asking, what was that that was called in?"

"Oh that?" Landry asked. "That would be our FA 306 Damocles class ships. We've actually been pumping out quite a few of them to fill out our fleet."

"I didn't think we could ever pull off a danger-close fire mission from orbit," Nova added.

"Well, you did miss a lot while you were gone, Major," Landry remarked, sliding her a folder. Nova took a moment to look at the files within. It was all the changes to Earth's fleet while she was away. She had already seen the 305. And she got a demonstration of the 306. From the files, it looked like the F-302's also had some modifications.

As she flipped to the end, she spotted a familiar hovering tank.

"Jaffa war chariot," Landry explained. "Basically, the jaffa equivalent of a battle tank. A few months ago they warned us a ship full of them vanished."

"Do we have word on who was driving the tank, sir?" Mitchell asked, still hovering behind Nova.

"Techs pulled two humans out of the tank," Landry explained, setting down the folders on the table. There were plenty of pictures of the demolished thank in the photos but none of the drivers. Considering the intensity of the explosions, she was grateful for that.

"Lucian Loyalists?" Mitchell asked.

"That's the guess. The village had turned down the offer to join them."

"Lucian Loyalists…" Nova repeated. "What are you two talking about?"

Landry gestured at the chairs, signaling Nova to sit. She did so, opening another one of the folders as Landry took his seat.

"Recently, the Lucian Alliance has been literally split in two," Landry said. "It was one of the things you missed while you were away. According to the Tok'ra, a civil war has broken out between Lucian Loyalists who want wage a full-scale war against Earth, and Lucian Rebels who want nothing to do with us."

"So what does this mean for us?" Nova asked, flipping through the papers.

"Well, the Rebels have done a pretty good job avoiding us. And, frankly, we have bigger fish to fry."

"So we're ignoring the Lucian Rebels?"

"For now. It's the Lucian Loyalists we need to worry about. They've continued their war against us. And lately they've gotten more aggressive. Their operations have doubled in size and they've launched several more attacks against our outposts. Even a few hit-and-runs against Earth. They've made two attacks against Langara to access their stargate, even taking their facility once. Funny enough, the Lucian Loyalists have actually been more of a threat than the original Lucian Alliance!"

Nova flipped through her papers, expecting a document talking about whoever was leading the Lucian Loyalists, but she found nothing.

"Doubled in size…" Nova sighed, shaking her head. "Who's leading the Loyalists that can pull that off?"

-.-

On a distant world, a tel'tak came swooping from the sky. The planet was a barren wasteland and the mountains where the base was set up did not help. The skies were covered with dense gray clouds. Thanks to them, the trees barely got to see any sunlight and were left large but leafless. Chilled winds swept across the landscape, burying the bones of the countless who have died there. Most from hundreds of years ago. Others, not so long ago.

At the peak of each mountain were ha'tak, a massive fleet docked on the planet. Several more floated in the skies. Al'kesh were docked in each valley. There were stretches of flat ground where legions of gliders were parked, crews checking on them every moment.

Built into the mountains were a network of buildings that stuck out of the landscape as if they were half buried. The full scope of the buildings could not be seen but what could be seen bore the familiar golden Goa'uld structure with symbols engraved into it. These structures made towers that jutted out of the ground or saucers that extended from the mountainside.

A few smaller towers had staff cannons attached to the top. The staff cannons turned to look at the cargo ship as it flew past. The average tel'tak was not armed. And even if it was, their staff cannons would not measure up to the staff cannons of static defenses. But this tel'tak carried something even the staff towers feared.

The cargo ship flew down to massive balcony, one large enough to hold the cargo ship and a handful of humans waiting for its arrival. Dust filled the air as the cargo ship neared the floor, flying up in everyone's faces. Finally, it touched down with a loud thud. Everyone standing on the landing pad could feel the ground beneath them tremble slightly at the ship's landing as its entire weight was set down.

The hum of the engines died, the dust dying down with it. After a moment, the doors slid open. Standing inside were three men. The man in the front was a tall tanned man, his long face marred by scars. Short black hair matted his head and ran down to the goatee on his chin.

His brown leather vest reached his thighs, but it still showed the Lucian Alliance uniform underneath. Behind him was a man in a long black coat, a hood pulled over his head, and a white mask covering his entire face. And next to him was a Lucian pirate wearing the standard gray uniform and a rod of anguish on his back.

The Lucian Alliance pirates on the platform all shirked away in fear. The man who stood in the center was clearly upset. Several of them even took a step back as if he was some sort of vicious animal and were afraid he would lash out at them.

The three men stepped off the cargo ship before marching into the building. The pirates all cleared out of the way, making sure there is good distance between them and him.

They marched through several winding corridors. Since the structure was built inside a mountain, most of the corridors looked like they were part of a cave network, the walls and floor made of rock. Pipes ran through the ceiling and walls, signs at every corner

The three men walked past a line of cells. They were once prison cells. Now, they were just storage closets.

But it wasn't these rooms the men were interested in. They marched to the end of the hall, where a Lucian pirate was waiting.

"Kabal," he said. "Kabal, you have to understand. I-"

The tanned man simply held up a hand, silencing the man.

"Wait outside," Kabal said to the Lucian pirate who had followed him from the cargo ship.

The Lucian guard nodded, stepping to the side. The door opened and allowed Kabal inside along with his two men, the third waiting outside.

"Now, then, Vosh," Kabal said as he stepped into his office. The golden office was well lit thanks to the massive window at the back. A throne sat behind a desk. A bookshelf against the wall had no books but it did have a rack with three human skulls on it. In the corner of the room was a cage containing what looked like a rabid wolf, or rather a massive wolf-like beast. The alien canine bared its fangs, snarling at the newcomers.

"I believe I put in you in charge of our operations on Langara," Kabal said. "I gave you a strategy and made it your job to procure Destiny. Well, I see you before me, so I assume Langara is under our control."

Kabal spoke softly, almost a whisper. His voice was steady. But it was clear that, in spite of his words, Kabal knew that Vosh's mission was not a success.

"No," Vosh said nervously.

"Oh? Then I assume Destiny is now under our control."

Vosh swallowed anxiously.

"No," he whimpered.

"Then, tell me, why are you here?"

The masked man walked around Vosh, eyeing him in amusement.

"The Langarans discovered our operations," Vosh said. "We tried to flee but the Earth ship Hammond was in orbit."

"And how much did you lose?"

"Forty two men, three al'kesh…and the entire warehouse of kassa."

Vosh flinched, clearly expecting some violent reaction from Kabal. But Kabal had no reaction.

"Mister Mobius?" Kabal asked the masked man.

"This will be a major setback," Mobius said. "That kassa is an integral part of the plan to take the Langaran stargate."

"We can still salvage our operations," Vosh stuttered out. "Just let me…" Vosh's voice trailed off as Kabal slowly walked up to him.

"No need to be afraid, Vosh," Kabal said soothingly. "You don't have to be afraid of me killing you. In fact, I'm willing to show you mercy."

Vosh looked up hopefully.

"Really?" he stuttered.

"Really."

Kabal reached up and removed the ranking insignia off his uniform. The Lucian Alliance wasn't a real military but they did form what could be considered a ranking system. Removing that badge was just a demotion.

"You may go," Kabal said, gesturing toward the door. "Please leave the door open on your way out." Vosh looked at Kabal graciously before standing up and straightening his uniform and walking out. The moment Vosh was out of sight, Kabal walked over to the cage and held the insignia in front of it. The wolf-like animal sniffed it a few times before snarling and baring its fangs, its hairs standing on end as it puffed itself up.

Kabal stepped back, unlocking the cage and opening the door.

The beast burst out of the cage with a crash so loud it almost sounded like a gunshot. The cage door flung opened, bouncing at the apex of its rotation before swinging freely as the beast lunged out. It sniffed the air for a bit before it took off down the hall. A moment later, a blood curling scream came from down the hallway.

The guard standing outside the door peeked in, fear and confusion all over his face.

"Clean up the mess," Kabal ordered. The guard nodded and walked toward the screams. The sound of shouting men could be heard form Kabal's office, even the shock of a rod of anguish being used followed by the pained yelps of the wolf-like beast. After a moment, it died down.

Mobius stepped toward the center of the office while Kabal took a seat at his throne.

"You don't seem to approve of my methods," Kabal said, looking at the papers on his desk.

"Vosh has served you well in the past," Mobius pointed out.

"Failure has no place in my army," Kabal stated. "The bar must remain at its highest. This will discourage failure."

As if on cue, the wolf-like beast came walking back in, dragging looked like a bloody pair of pants in its jaws. It went back to its cage with its new chew toy, laying down to rest.

"Or it will promote dishonesty. Why admit failure when death is what awaits them?"

"You're here simply to act as a consultant," Kabal pointed out. "I advise you remember your place."

Mobius simply held his arms out and bowed as if to say 'as you wish'.

"I've heard reports that you've been sighted on other human worlds," Kabal said. "That you've been rallying humans and arming them."

"You said you need help fighting the Jaffa Nation. These humans hold no love for you, but they will fight the jaffa and the Tau'ri willingly."

"And it'll help cover up our kassa," Kabal added. "Many of our buyers are unhappy with the new wait time between shipment."

"Your kassa trains may have been quick but they also presented very vulnerable targets. Using larger numbers of cargo ships with smaller shipments have made it harder for the tau'ri to track down. And by rigging several fake transport trains, we've discouraged them from going after your kassa."

"So you have no solution?"

"None that will bring good results. It is a fundamental rule of the universe: you can take no action without some form of consequence. You may not like the advice I have given you but it is my guidance that has allowed the Lucian Alliance to grow in spite of the civil war and for you to take all the credit."

Kabal growled in annoyance. It was true the safer kassa transport was saving their sales. He looked at the skulls on the bookshelf. Those were all that remained of his predecessors. One of those skulls was Netan, the first leader, a man who had failed the Lucian Alliance enough times that three of his seconds had placed bounties on his head.

The Lucian Alliance had split in half and Kabal had managed to swoop in and bring the entire organization under his command.

"Very well," Kabal said. "So what is the next step in our plan?"


	3. The Silver Capital

Mercer had to appreciate the relative calmness of Millennium. During the early days of the Stargate Program, the SGC was faced with constant threat of Goa'uld invasion. Then Atlantis was under constant threat of wraith invasion. And while Caldwell 70 had more than a few hostile civilizations, none had singled them out. The city was going about its daily business and Mercer went down to get some food from the cafeteria. He patiently waited in line, watching the food servers scoop out whatever was cooking. There was fried chicken, baked beans, some sort of European fish pastry, a variety of Italian pastas, and one of the cooks was a Turk who wanted to show off what he described as 'an ice cream that does not melt'.

Mercer slowly made his way down, graciously excepting a bowl of ice cream along with his fish pastry. As he reached the end of the line, one of the cooks seemed to flag him down.

"General," the cook said with exaggerated glee. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"Just grabbing lunch," Mercer said with a smile. "Same as I do every day. No need to make a scene."

"How can I not make a big deal when our brave leader graces us with his presence? Perhaps you could try something for me. Trying out these new potatoes from botany! I hear they tried mixing in alien plant DNA with the new plants to speed up growth" The cook quickly reached behind the counter and lifted up a bowl of steaming mashed potatoes. "On the house!"

"Well when you put it like that..." Mercer said in the same warm tone, letting the cook place the bowl on his tray.

"Let me know what you think of the potatoes!" the cook called after him as Mercer walked away, the old man letting out a hearty laugh as he waved goodbye.

Mercer wasted no time heading back to his office.

_On the house..._

Mercer knew what this meant. The moment he got back to his office he set down the tray before taking a seat. He picked up his fork and began gently prodding the mashed potatoes. He could still hear the oil sizzling from the heat. After a moment, his fork hit something solid. He gently used his fork to shovel out a small crystal from the potatoes.

A Tau'ri USB would probably be damaged being put with a bowl of freshly baked mashed potatoes. But a Goa'uld memory crystal would survive. There were easier ways of delivering new orders than memory crystals inside mashed potatoes. The green crystal was a lot shorter than most memory crystals so it wouldn't store as much data, but it would still hold a lot. There must've been instructions inside. Probably for another meeting. After the terrific failure on the part of the Tok'ra, tensions were at an all time high. Ending their little coalition and any relations between the races would raise suspicions. But the Tau'ri would not do nothing either. Am-heh was very curious to see how this all went.

Mercer used a napkin to wipe down the crystal before sliding it into a desk drawer. He had just closed the drawer when he heard the door to his office open again.

SLAM.

General Mercer looked at the small stack of papers slammed on his desk before looking up at Corin Nevec standing before him.

"I assume there is a reason you chose to barge into my office," Mercer asked calmly. Corin still looked angry. He had been angry for the past few days every since Mercer announced his plan to try to form an alliance with the Ror'char. Well, it was Nova's idea but Corin didn't know that.

"Consider that my resignation letter," Corin said. Mercer looked down at the papers tossed at him, finally reaching over to scan through them.

"Resignation?" Mercer repeated. "You consider your being here a form of employment?"

"What else would it be?" Corin scoffed. "Look, General. I joined you since I thought you guys might fight against the Ror'char, overthrow them. But in all the time I've been here we've made no headway to that and now we might even ally ourselves with them." Corin shook his head.

"And tell me, Professor," Mercer said, still reading the papers presented. "Where would you go after this?"

"We know a few pirate havens. Drop me off there, I'll figure out the rest."

"I fear I cannot grant your request," Mercer said, finally setting down the papers. "You know too much about Millennium, our security, and our modus operandi."

"General, you've kept stringent security on everything military related," Corin pointed out. "I'm not military, least of all your military. I wasn't even allowed to go into certain parts of the city since I didn't have the clearance for it. I don't have any knowledge regarding any security codes except the password to my computer. General, I could tell everything I know and it wouldn't be worth a damn. I can leave this city without any security risk. Or am I a prisoner?" Corin stepped back, holding his arms out as if he had just proven a point. "Your call."

-.-

Nova slowly walked through a small town, looking at the stores on either side. With all the chaos going on across the planet, it was nice to know her hometown was still relatively peaceful. It was nice to be out of her military uniforms. She felt comfortable in a purple sleeveless shirt with a denim jacket and jeans.

She looked up at the spring sky. The chirping birds on the roof were almost deceptive. This whole town was deceptive. All across the news and the internet you see stories of entire cities in flames. Here, all was calm.

Nova paused in front of a general store, looking up at the giant letters on the banner hanging above.

"Nelson's Shop," she muttered. She gently pushed open the door, the bell giving a welcoming chime.

"Pops?" she called out. There was a musty smell in the air so she knew he had to be in. It was the air freshener he always like to use and sprayed recently too from the smell of it. Nova looked at the far wall, photos displayed all across it. There was a young black man with his wife and eight-year-old daughter. There was his daughter again, this time twelve years old. Then fifteen. Then nothing. There was nothing with his wife nor daughter after that picture.

Nova also saw pictures of herself. There she was at twenty years of age. She was not in good shape, her hair ragged and half covering her face, bags under her eyes like she hadn't slept in days. Though, she stood in front of the shop with the black man, a small smile on her face. The next picture of her was vastly different. She was in her Air Force uniform, standing tall and proud…at least looking proud. She remembered she felt like an undeserving imposter when that photo was taken.

Nova walked up to the counter, looking at the call bell sitting on it. She tapped it a few times, the ear-splitting ring echoing. It wasn't anywhere near the volume of a gunshot, but there was something about hearing it in the silence that made it seem louder.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," a voice from the back room called out. There was a click as the door to the back opened, the tap of a walking cane was audible from where she stood.

She saw a squat black man slowly walk out from the back, though his height could be blamed on his hunch. The hair on his head and cheeks were short but clearly visible because of how white they were, especially on his dark skin. He looked up and stopped in his tracks.

"Hey, pops," Nova said with a nervous wave. Nelson looked at Nova before hobbling towards her with his cane, letting out a hearty laugh.

"Look at you!" he chuckled. "Don't stand at the counter looking like a lost puppy. Come here!"

Nova walked over to Nelson, unable to hide her smile. The old man cupped her cheeks as if to hold her head still so he could get a good look at her.

"Major of the US Air Force," Nelson said. "I knew you would get far."

Nova felt her cheeks flush at Nelson's praise.

"I only got this far because of you," she said. "The things I did disqualified me from any branch. You're the one who helped me get a moral waiver. You helped get me in."

"There is no person on this planet more deserving of a second chance than you," Nelson said. "How long will you be here? Your room is still up there. Didn't touch a thing."

"You kept it?"

"Never had the heart to get rid of any of your stuff," he explained.

Nova looked at the door to the back. She remembered walking through this building. She walked into the back room, spotting the stairs to the left. The backroom, and the rest of the store for that matter, had this old feel to it. It wasn't that it was messy or that the room was falling apart. Quite the contrary, it was well put together and neat. But there was something about the walls that made them feel old, or that the wood was not as sturdy as they could be.

Nova made her way up the stairs to the second floor, stopping to admire the oak floorboards. There were four doors in the hall on the second floor, and Nova went for the one at the end of the hall.

The room was plain as could be. There was a purple bed in the corner next to the window but that was it. She wasn't exactly in the best place last time she was there.

"You weren't kidding when you said you didn't touch anything," Nova said with a chuckle.

"Maybe now you can do some decorating," Nelson remarked, hobbling his way into the room. "Got any souvenirs out in the galaxy, space ranger?"

"None I'm allowed to bring home," Nova said with a smile. "How'd you figure out I'm part of it?"

"Well, them leaks on the internet did show the date of the Millennium Expedition and it's also the date you left."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you what I was up to."

Nelson just waved the apology away.

"I was flying secret mission in AH-1 Cobras while you were still in diapers," he laughed.

"I don't think I was actually born yet when you were doing that."

"Point is, you have nothing to apologize for," he said, hobbling into the room with his cane." What did you parents thinks about you doing this?"

Nova looked away. She knew Nelson didn't mean much by it but it was a sensitive subject for her.

"Dad's gone," Nova sighed. "Died in a car crash. Looks like I got my wish."

"Theresa got her wish. You are not her. What about your mother?"

"Avoided her the moment the stargate went public. Hayes was one of our biggest supporters and she also hated Hayes so…"

"You may wish to talk to her," Nelson said. "Something as small as that shouldn't be enough to split your family over."

Nova looked away, contemplating the issue. She reconnected with her mother last time she was here. It would be a shame if she was to just drop everything. A few years back she would never have dared. But, her mind drifting back to Wolf Pack, the reward of a family was worth the risk of pain.

"You're smiling."

Nova was snapped out of her stupor by Nelson's comment.

"What?" she stuttered.

"You're smiling."

"I've smiled before."

"But not like this." Nelson chuckled mischievously as his mind went over all the possibilities. "What's his name?"

Nova blinked a few times, not expecting the sudden question.

"Oh, Corin Nevec," Nova said.

A grin spread across Nelson's face.

"And Charles Martin."

"Wait, what?" Nelson stuttered.

"Steven Chen…"

Nelson burst out laughing when he realized what Nova thought he meant.

"What?" she asked in confusion.

"It's nothing," he said, still wheezing from his laughter. "Well, I'm glad you found happiness in not one but three fine gentlemen."

Nova still had no clue what he meant. But, it seemed he was happy that Nova was happy so that was all that mattered.

"Hey, Pops," Nova said. "I'm going to need a place to stay while I'm back. Mind if I reclaim my old room? I'll even help with the store while I'm here."

Nelson chuckled, tapping his cane on the ground.

"Welcome home, Terra Nova," he said.

-.-

It was embarrassing to say, but it had been so long since Nova had to drive to the SGC she actually forgot how to get there. It took longer than she wanted but she made it to Cheyenne Mountain, and checked in at the guard post before she drove into the tunnel. She first noticed something strange when she noted a fleet of government cars in the parking lot.

She took the elevator down. As she stepped into the cement halls, she noticed three IOA agents walk down the hall. She had to stop herself from rolling her eyes in front of the three government agents. She'd just got there and already she's running into the IOA.

"Major Nova!" a voice called out from behind her. At first Nova thought some IOA bureaucrat was calling her, maybe to complain about her performance or something. Then she realized there was something familiar about the voice. She turned around and her eyes fell upon a raggedy face she'd seen before.

"Peterson!" she exclaimed excitedly. Peterson quickly jogged up to her, still maintaining his professional demeanor but clearly excited to see her again. It had been a while since Nova even laid eyes on Peterson let alone spoken to him. She remembered he had lent a hand with Operation Typhon when they took down the last of The Trust.

"You're back!" he said. "I heard Typhon returned but I didn't know you came back too."

"You know what's going on here?" Nova asked as another three IOA agents walked past. Normally, when this many IOA agents show up, that meant the SGC was under scrutiny of some sort. But no one on base seemed to have the agitated look that accompanied that sort of thing.

But the IOA definitely were up to something.

Peterson gave a shrug.

"They just showed up this morning," he explained, watching another two agents walk past. "No idea what they're up to."

Nova stared at the IOA officials as they walked away. She had an idea what they're up to. She didn't know much about diplomacy but she was pretty sure planting viruses on the warship of your allies was a big no-no.

"By the way," Peterson spoke up. "General Landry's looking for us."

"Us?" Nova repeated, turning to face him. "The two of us? Did he say for what?"

"Does he have to?" Peterson remarked with a shrug. Nova had to concede that. Orders were orders.

Nova and Peterson both headed for the briefing room. Walking through the cement halls, Nova was reminded how much she missed this place. She couldn't figure out why. It wasn't the best looking of places. Cement halls with exposed wires, colored lines on the floors to help navigate, the place wasn't exactly welcoming. Yet, this place felt like old stomping grounds. Then again, it was her old stomping grounds.

The metal spiral staircase rattled as she and Peterson went up them. They had expected to take seats at the table and wait for Landry. But it seemed Landry was waiting for them. It seemed he had just finished a conversation with not one but three IOA representatives. Nova could see the suits in Landry's office. The two suited men and one woman all marched out of the office and out of the briefing room, letting Landry have the floor to himself.

At first, Nova thought Landry looked angry. But, on second look, she realized he was just confused. Maybe even a little annoyed.

"General?" Nova spoke. Landry hadn't even noticed them enter.

"Ah, Major," he said, holding up a stack of papers in his right hand. "Those were representatives from the IOA. The Pentagon wants an SG team to escort them to a meeting with the…  
Landry began to explain, his voice trialing off. He looked at the stack of papers in his hand. "Free Jaffa Parliamentary Council."

"Bit of a mouthful," Peterson remarked.

"Did they say why?" Nova asked.

"Well, you know how the IOA are," Landry commented, putting the papers on the table and sliding them over. "They're good at telling people what to do and not much else."

Nova picked up the paper and flipped through.

"Ithryll," Nova read. "So I guess we're heading to the new jaffa capital. General, I don' have a team yet."

"I did bring that up," Landry explained. "They specifically asked for you to be their escort and permitted only one other person. I've assigned you Peterson. Figured you'd want to work with someone you already know." That statement caught her attention. Nova looked up a bit too quickly, and then realized, suddenly fearing her reaction might make everyone suspicious. Escorting three diplomats would usually demand the attention of a full four-man SG team. She was initially confused why Landry would have her and Peterson be the only two escorts. But with what she knew with what's going on, she could not help but wonder if the Pentagon chose her because they knew she knew and wanted an inside man.

"The council has already agreed to the meeting," Landry added. "You and Lieutenant Peterson are to escort our guests. And I hear they've requested military assistance involving kassa. Figured this would be a nice easy mission to welcome you back with."

Nova chuckle at this, half in genuine amusement and half to cover up her extreme reactikon from earlier. Hell of a welcome back party.

-.-

Nova took a shuddering breath as she stepped out of the stargate and onto Ithryll. She glanced back, watching Peterson step out followed by the three IOA agents. Nova had a MP7A1 in her hands though Peterson still used a P90. They were on friendly soil so they weren't expecting a fight but they still had to be alert nonetheless.

"And here we are, ladies and gents, Ithryll, capital planet of the Free Jaffa Nation!" Peterson announced to the IOA agent like some sort of sports caster. But the agents had no reaction. "Tough crowd..."

"Not what I was expecting for a capital," Nova commented, looking at her new scenery. According to the papers, Ithryll may have been the capital planet but the capital city of Abor Lada was located a fair distance from the stargate. They would have to take a cargo ship from the town of Lios to Abor Lada. Sure, Lios wasn't the capital city but it was still on the capital planet and so she expected a bit more than what she was looking at. The first thing she noticed was the noise. He ears were bombarded by the sounds of five cargo ships. Two of them were coming in, preparing to land on massive stone plazas. Three of them were taking off. And there were five others already landed, hovering above the platform. She heard rings transports being deployed. She heard animals pulling carts full of stuff. There were carts of wood. There were carts of fish. There were carts of coal. There were carts of hay. There were cows and horses pulling these carts. Some carts had cages of clucking chickens.

Nova glanced back at the three agents. The IOA didn't even send their more cowardly representatives. Most IOA members turned into cowards on another planet, checking every nook and cranny for flesh eating aliens. These ones remained stone-faced and stoic.

Normally this would be when Martin would say something like '_these blokes aren't much for conversation_' or something along those lines.

Nova noticed a parked Cargo ship that landed near the stargate, a single jaffa waiting outside.

"You are the representatives of the Tau'ri," he said, walking forth, his tone stiff and blunt. "I have bee instructed to take you to the capital."

Nova and Peterson led the IOA agents onto the cargo ship. They could feel the ship's gentle rock as it took off. With its intertial dampeners, she could barely feel the ship's movement. For a moment she thought she would have to wait maybe an hour for the trip. Then she remembered how fast spaceships could move.

It's been a while since Nova has ever stepped foot on a jaffa world before. She remembered primitive villages akin to something from the medieval era, wood and straw huts, stone castles if they were lucky. The Goa'uld hogged all the technology, making sure the jaffa looked up to them as gods. But with the fall of the Goa'uld, that technology was distributed amongst the populace.

"Humans of the Tau'ri," the pilot said. "Welcome to the capital of the Free Jaffa Nation. Welcome to Ithryll."

Nova stared out the window as the clouds parted. And she saw just how much everything had changed. There were still stone and brick buildings, dirt paths, and kiosks with merchants selling goods underneath cloth tarps. There were wood huts, clay cottages, and stone forges. There were dirt paths, brick paths, and some paths even had planks of wood covering it. Flags and banners flew in the wind from the tallest towers and domed buildings. The city wasn't like Millennium. It was hardly beautiful. But Nova could not help but feel a sense of awe, a desire to see what lay down every alley.

But amongst the horse-drawn carts were hovering carriages, carried by anti-gravity pads. Some of the buildings, while primitive looking, were much too large to be built using medieval building techniques. Buildings stretched to four, five, even six stories in height. There were holographic screens at the corner of some of the streets. Store windows had holographic images and signs advertising what was inside.

Above the city were airships hovering above it all. At first Nova thought they were blimps. But their shapes were wrong. At the center of the ship was a bronze triangular pyramid with an elongated front. The pyramid was surrounded with a gray triangular frame that made the elongated front seem even longer. These things could be seen rising from different sections of the city and vanishing into the distance while others came into view and touched down.

"I guess al'kesh don't make good public transport," Peterson remarked.

"Hot damn…" Nova said, at a loss for words. "So, where are we going?'

"We're headed for the capital building," the pilot said, pointing ahead. Nova looked up, eyes falling upon a medieval stone castle. But, like the city, it had been hybridized with Goa'uld technology. Instead of catapults, the ramparts were armed with staff cannons. Staff cannon towers were built into the wall as watch towers.

Ok, she had to admit that she didn't see anything particularly advanced about the castle itself aside from the weapons and what appeared to be a holographic bridge in place of a drawbridge. But, she could imagine that it was hybridized just like the city.

As the tel'tak approached the castle, the jaffa co-pilot began speaking Goa'uld. She tried to listen in, but she didn't know why. She couldn't understand Goa'uld but she guessed it was permission to land.

Communication cut and Nova could feel the cargo ship maneuver toward one of the towers.

"We are in position," the pilot said. Nova and Peterson walked over to the ring platform along with the three agents, standing at the center. She gave a thumbs up and the pilot pressed the button. Stone rings rose from the floor, surrounding the pair. Nova closed her eyes to shield them from the blinding white light that surrounded her. Once the light vanished, Nova looked around. She was on the tower. Sure enough, it was a medieval stone tower…with wires running across the ground. Nova followed the wires with her eyes, spotting power stations where the wires originated from.

"So..." Peterson spoke up, trying to make conversation with the three IOA agents again. But they, again, maintained a rather cold composure. The moment the rings were gone they stepped away without so much as a word. "Ok, I give up!" he said, tossing his hands up.

While Peterson was trying to be friendly with the IOA officials, Nova was too busy being awed by her surroundings. Looking around, it seemed the jaffa had had a few fashion changes. Last time she was here, jaffa either wore their metal armor or plain robes. It seems the jaffa had adopted some uniforms with many of the workers on the towers in dark blue tailcoats.

The higher ranking jaffa had solid metal cuirass and a shoulder cape. Jaffa in traditional metal armor were standing on guard at the entrance to the tower.

Peterson and Nova looked up as one of the jaffa broke off. Unlike most of the other jaffa with armor, this one wore a a helmet.

His helmet covered his entire head except for a large abet vaguely Y-shaped cutout that revealed much of the face. But the face revealed was not one she expected. It was metal. The face beneath the helmet was a metal face designed to look like a scowling face, red gems to make the eyes look like they're glowing. And the mouth was made to look like it was full of spiked teeth.

Jaffa guard helmets were made to intimidate the superstitious and primitive population, designed to feature creatures related to the gods the Goa'uld posed as. Apophis was symbolized by a snake, so his guards wore massive cobra helmets. Ra and Heru'ur were symbolized by a bird so the horus guards wore bird heads. Whichever Goa'uld this jaffa used to serve wanted his guards to appear as supernatural warriors rather than animal spirits.

The jaffa paused so that his helmet could retract. The 'jaws' opened and retracted back before the eyes and nose pieces slid into the helmet. Finally, Nova could see his face.

"People of the Tau'ri," the jaffa said. "Welcome." Finally, his helmet finished retracting, the helmet itself pulling back into the suit of armor.

His head was mostly bald except for some hair that grew out into a braid. But what caught Nova's attention was the silver mark on his forehead. If Nova had to describe symbol, she would say it looked like the crease marks of a person's forehead when they got angry.

Surprisingly, his jaffa armor was more bronze in color. And the body was protected by a solid curiass rather than a metal strip running down the front of a chainmail hauberk. A long flowing red cape ran down his back.

"Greetings," the jaffa said, thumping his spear weapon on the ground. "My name is Ha'kar," the jaffa said. "Former warrior of Ares. I assume you are the Tau'ri representatives I am ordered to meet."

"Yeah, that's us…" Nova stuttered. "Major Nova. This here is Peterson." Peterson held out his hand but Ha'kar ignored it. "And these…" Nova said, gesturing to the agents behind her, her voice trailing off. She had no idea who these people are actually. She only knew she was supposed to escort them to meet with the Free Jaffa Council.

"We're here to meet with the Council," the woman in the middle said. Nova almost jumped in surprise. The three agents had been silent for so long that it was startling to hear one of them talk.

"Excellent," Ha'kar. said, turning around. "I will take you to the Council." He turned around and headed toward the entrance to the tower. Nova exchanged glances with Peterson. They had expected a bit more of an introduction. She had to remind herself that this wasn't hostility or rudeness. This abrupt manner was just how jaffa were. Seeing as they had no other idea what to do, they followed Ha'kar inside.

The castle may have looked like it was made of stone but they were shaped perfectly so that there was no gap between them. She could barely see the thin line between each stone. Mounted on the walls were what looked to be the paddle end of a staff weapon, but the gem that would normally house the capsule of liquid naquadah was glowing, providing the light that illuminated the stairway. The spiral staircase led to a large hall at the bottom. The two humans quickly caught up with their jaffa host, more than a couple questions running through their mind.

"Judging from your reactions, you have had no previous encounters with jaffa before," Ha'kar said in the same stiff tone jaffa are known for.

"We've read the reports," Nova explained. "Then again, most of those reports took place during the System Lords. It's actually amazing how much has changed…assuming the reports are accurate."

"I have not read these reports, but, indeed, much has changed. The Goa'uld had attempted to quell the idea of rebellion by hoarding their technology. We have much to learn in our journey to true independence."

"True independence?" Peterson repeated.

"The jaffa are a warrior culture," Nova explained. "But you need more than warriors to make a nation. Isn't that right?"

"The female is correct," Ha'kar said. "We have jaffa tasked with studying Goa'uld technology to better our society. Many jaffa have taken up tasks they did not expect to."

"What about you?"

Ha'kar turned around, his face still blank of any emotion or reaction.

"I have taken up the role of an ambassador and a cultural analyst, helping to unite different factions among the jaffa," he said. "The Jaffa Council deemed this task suitable to me because I am the funny one."

Peterson found himself staring while Nova had to hold back a choke.

"The funny one…" Nova repeated. "Well...um…lead the way, funny one."

Ha'kar bowed before resuming his march. They continued down the long stone corridors, Nova admiring the architecture.

"So, Hacker…" Peterson said.

"Ha'kar," the jaffa corrected.

"Might want to drop the nicknames," Nova remarked to Peterson. "Jaffa aren't exactly known for possessing a sense of humor."

"A misconception," Ha'kar quickly corrected. "Jaffa do possess a sense of humor. However, unlike the Tau'ri…" Ha'kar paused as he reached a door, stopping to look at his company. "Our jokes are actually humorous."

He bowed slightly before opening the door, gesturing for the humans to enter. Nova stared in shock for a moment before shaking her head, snapping herself back to reality.

She quietly walked through the door and into the council chamber followed by Peterson and the IOA agents. Nova had only seen pictures of the Dakaran Council Chamber. It seemed they tried their best to recreate it here. All the jaffa sat at the tables that formed a circle in the domed chamber, columns directly behind them. At the center was an elevated platform for speakers to step up and speak their mind. The center of the chamber was well lit with a glass dome ceiling above them and torches along the columns illuminating the meeting area. This gave plenty of space for the Council to meet at the center while letting observers slink in the shadows without disturbing the proceedings.

"We've made great progress in our independence but at what cost?" the jaffa at the center asked. "I understand we need to evolve as a nation but is it worth it if we lose what makes us jaffa?

The jaffa bowed and stepped down, returning to his position at the of the tables.

"Members of the Jaffa parliamentary Council," Ha'kar announced. "I present to you: delegates of the Tau'ri."

He tapped his spear on the ground, stepping to the side to present Nova, Peterson, and the IOA members.

"Hi," Nova said unabashedly. The IOA agents were less than amused through.

"Major," one of them said. "We can handle it from here. The jaffa had also requested your help."

"I can assist with that," Ha'kar spoke up. "Major Nova, Lieutenant Peterson, please follow me."

-.-

The Typhon had long since left for Earth. There was no way to get the ship logs directly. Fortunately, it was standard practice to offload the logs so that personnel can go through them even without the ship being there. All Hailey had to do was access the computer core. And that was where she was. There were a lot of buildings in Millennium. Only a fifth of the city was explored. And even in the part that was explored, most of the city was unoccupied. So there were several warehouses in other warehouse districts that housed the servers. There was the primary servers, and then there were the numerous backups.

Hailey knew paranoia was getting the better of her. She had brought her X699 and her life signs detector. She kept the wrist-mounted device up, scanning the area in front of her. This far away from the rest of the expedition, she should not detect any life signs.

Hailey walked up to the computer terminal, scanning her surroundings one final time. She raised her scanner and panned around the warehouse.

"Nothing…" Hailey muttered to herself. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't scared. She didn't even know what she was up against. Even the SGC's never tested the life signs detector against a cloak so she didn't know if hers would work against a cloaked enemy either.

A dead face flashed before her eyes. But it wasn't hers. It was Chen's. Just thinking about cloaked enemies, she realized a cloaked assassin could come after Steven. What was she thinking even considering letting him in on this?

She shook the ideas from her mind. She needed his computer skills. But now she was going to try to access the data that got Grogan killed. She kept her X699 at the ready. It was her personal one, modified to suit her. She had drifted away from the automatic rifle and found the semi-automatic carbine variant to be far superior. Its short length meant she could use it in close quarters. And it still had the accuracy and stopping power that exceeded that of a rifle.

Still, it only provided so much comfort. It was hard to tell if your weapon was a match for the enemy when you didn't even know what the enemy was.

Hailey shoved a flash drive into the USB port and went to the keyboard. She didn't know what she was looking for but she had an idea where to start looking.

"Alright, the files Carl brought me were communication files from the SGC and Atlantis," she said to herself. "So it stands to reason what he wanted was in Typhon's communication logs."

After a few moments, she had pulled up the outgoing communication logs. Nothing. Shouldn't be surprising. It wasn't in communication range of Millennium and it certainly wasn't going to talk to anyone else in the galaxy.

But the logs could have been deleted. She had to try the backup logs. She clicked through a few more files, did a scan.

"Nothing…" she sighed. "Tertiary logs…" She scanned the tertiary logs, but once again came up empty. "DAMN IT!" she yelled. Grogan wasn't killed over nothing. There was something here somebody didn't want found.

She couldn't get emotional. The messages sent from the SGC and Atlantis were sent to their respective beta sites. That means somebody had to receive the message. Maybe there were logs on messages received.

It didn't take Hailey long to scan through the primary, back up, and tertiary incoming message logs.

And came up with nothing.

Hailey flipped up her scanner and panned around the room with it. Hailey felt her heart drop when she sat a blip at the front door of the warehouse. Her hand tightly clenched her X699. There shouldn't be anyone here. Who was that?

She wanted to go over there and investigate. But she was afraid that if she left the computer, then whatever she wanted to find would get deleted. Not to mention, whatever it was might just kill her.

She could just run. But she was back to square one. It might still kill her and delete the data.

No, her mission was to find the data. She was going to stay and find the data. She wasn't going to let Grogan die in vain. She panned around the room again, making sure there wasn't any other life signs. But when she completed her 360 rotation and aimed her scanner back in the direction of the life sign, it wasn't there.

"Shit…" she muttered. She was on the clock. She turned back to the computer. So the logs held no incoming nor outgoing messages.

But those weren't the only logs. The messaging system was built with several parts. There was no way to send actual messages over subspace. A message is broken down into simple data that can be transmitted, sent over a communication stream, received, then converted back. While the messaging system was where it was officially stored, there were backups of the data streams sent to and from the ship.

Hailey brought up the logs. When Hailey went through the primary, backup, and tertiary outgoing data logs, her heart sank with every empty file she saw.

But when she pulled up the incoming logs, she immediately noticed a file. The Typhon had picked up on some sort of signal.

With a few clicks, she saved the logs to the flash drive. She ejected the drive and shoved it into her pocket before raising her scanner and her X699, scanning the area again.

Her heart sank. The scanner put a life sign on the opposite side of the computer server right next to her. All that stood between her and whoever or whatever that was, was a single wall

She didn't know what to do. Training told her to look around and secure the area first, but she feared the moment she took her scanner off this life sign it would vanish again. And she couldn't train her weapon on it since it was behind an obstruction.

She couldn't stand there indecisively. Hailey practically spun around in a circle. She cursed when she finished. Not only was there another life sign directly behind her, the one she was looking at mere moments ago had vanished.

She put her scanner way. She would do what she was trained to do. She was going to make her way back to the entrance of the warehouse, check her corners, and get out. She kept her carbine readied, slowly making her way through the maze of computer servers. Even if a firefight did breakout, these only stored the primary backups. The secondary and tertiary were stored in two separate locations which meant the data would not be lost.

Hailey was stiff as she made her way to the exit. She wanted to flip her scanner up one more time. But she was afraid the moment she took any amount of attention away form what was in front of her, whatever those life signs were would come for her.

When she reached the door, she turned around and flipped up her scanner once more.

One life sign deep inside the warehouse.

At least she was safe from that one. She opened the door to the warehouse and stepped into the hall. But she immediately froze in her tracks as she felt her brain explode. Even if it didn't explode, it certainly felt like it. Before her was a glowing crimson gem, a fiery trail of energy leaving it and piercing her brain. It felt like her skull was crushing her brain inside and threatened to crush it into a pulp. Her entire body was screaming in pain as if her nerves were being fried. She wanted to reach up and grab whatever this was. But her entire body couldn't move. She couldn't even open her mouth to scream in pain because her entire body was too busy screaming in pain for her to even make a sound.

Her hands clumsily grasped at whatever it was in front of her. She could feel a hand in front of her face. That meant this thing in front of her was a Goa'uld ribbon device.

That meant that whoever this was had naquadah in their blood. It could've been a Tok'ra, a Goa'uld, or just a human with a naquadah supplement. Regardless, it seemed like this was how she will die. The kara'kesh would kill her without leaving a mark then her body would be staged to look like she killed herself out of grief. It was another death disguised as an accident.

Suddenly, the gem was moved away. Hailey fell over, clutching her head in agony.

What happened? Why did whoever it was stop?

Hailey looked up in time to see a white mass kick back the cloaked figure in front of her.

"Arcturus?!" Hailey exclaimed. She didn't know what Samanya Arcturus was doing here but it was keeping her alive. Hailey struggled to rise to her feet, watching as Arcturus viciously went after the cloaked figure. She wasn't in any armor and still wore her blue skirt and white dress shirt, but she fought like on the battlefield.

Hailey was used to watching Soren's fighting style, how he would leap and jump around his opponents without ever getting hit while peppering them with punches and kicks. But Arcturus was the exact opposite. She did not dodge the attacks. She blocked them or ignored them, her fists acting like hammers.

A punch to the face sent the cloaked figure stumbling backwards. Now that there was distance between them, Samanya reached up her skirt and pulled out her pistol. Caelum, Hailey believed she's heard Arcturus call them.

Samanya immediately pulled the trigger in rapid succession, three brilliant flashes of golden light emanating from the weapon. Each hit the figure. It staggered back as if they got hit with a sledgehammer. Those shots would have turned the person into a cloud of ash but a radiant wall of orange energy stopped them. But those shots clearly had an effect, the orange shield flickering to stay active. This was the first time Hailey seen a Goa'uld force shield on the brink of collapse. Arcturus went in for another attack, but the figure raised a left hand, its kara'kesh sending a kinetic blast that sent Arcturus flying across the hall. She hit the floor with a solid thud, her caelum flying from her hand.

Hailey's entire body still ached but she had enough energy to pull her SIG M18 and begin firing at the figure. The first two bullets bounced off the shield but, at that moment, the shield died. The figure grunted in pain as a few of the shots landed. Realizing it was vulnerable, the figure fired another kinetic blast at Hailey. Hailey felt an invisible wall collide with her entire body. She would say it felt like a punch to the face, but a more accurate description would be a punch to every inch of her front. She cried out in pain as she flew across the floor, her pistol, X699, and her dagger flying across the hall with her.

Arcturus picked up the dagger from the floor, flinging at the figure who fired a kinetic blast at the knife and sent it back at Arcturus. But Samanya caught the knife in the air as it flew past her before flinging back once more with even more force than before. The knife embedded itself into the man's hand, cracking the crystal in half.

The figure roared in pain, stumbling away. Seeing her opening, Arcturus snatched her caelum off the floor and took aim but it was too late. The figure reached up and pressed a button the back of his hand. And in that instance, he vanished in a flash of white light just as another golden flash of light flew through and vaporized a chunk out of the wall behind.

"Are you all right?" Arcturus asked, walking over and kneeling next to Hailey. Hailey had her hand on her head. It still felt like her brain had been crushed mere moments ago. But, she was alive.

"Bit of a headache," she said.

"Do you require immediate medical attention? Are you even able to stand?"

"Funny…" Hailey said, bracing herself against the wall to get to her feet.

-.-

When Nova first stepped into the room, it looked like a regular meeting chamber. A very impressive and large meeting chamber but regular nonetheless. It was a domed chamber with stone bleachers all along the walls. On one side of the chamber were five large and ornate seats clearly meant for higher ranking officials. On the floor at the center was a vo'cume.

"Stand back," Ha'kar ordered. Nova and Peterson obeyed, keeping a good distance from the vo'cume. Ha'kar stepped forth, holding his hand over the holographic projector. After a moment, three stone pillars rose around the vo'cume, reaching stomach height. The pillars paused, extending curved stone beams out each side, meeting with the beams from the other pillars and forming a ring. Finally, stone filled the center of the ring and turning into a table. Though, it did leave a hole in the center of the vo'cume.

"In the past we tolerated the Lucian Alliance," Ha'kar said. "While the jaffa do not shy away from conflict, we will not start a war if not necessary."

"So what's changed?" Peterson asked. Ha'kar reached out in front of him, waving his hand above the hole in the table. After a moment, a holographic picture appeared. At first Nova thought she was looking at a normal cob of corn. Then, she finally recognized it.

"Kassa," she said. "You think the Lucian Alliance is smuggling Kassa into the Jaffa Nation?"

"We have reason to believe so. We do not believe any jaffa is smuggling these hethenous products into our nation."

"No offense, cuz I know you guys are big on honor and all that," Peterson remarked. "But you know there's always going to be at least one bad apple."

Ha'kar paused to think about what Peterson said for a moment.

"If your analogy means what I believe, then I would agree. However, we have located the source of the kassa distribution. Many of it comes from the human population centers."

"Humans?" Peterson repeated. "In the Jaffa Nation?"

"Even during the reign of the Goa'uld, there were humans living on Jaffa planets," Ha'kar explained. "When the Free Jaffa Nation was formed, those human communities were integrated into our nation."

"And you think the humans are smuggling the kassa in?" Nova asked.

"The Council believes so. Because humans make up a majority of the Lucian Alliance, they believe there are Lucian infiltrators hiding inside the human communities and distributing the kassa."

Nova looked at the map of the town. Tens of thousands of people in one place and someone in there was dealing kassa. She knew Ha'kar was asking her to help with the situation but she couldn't imagine what they could do.

"So where do we come in?" she asked.

"Unfortunately, the jaffa do not have a good relationship with the human citizens."

"Well, you guys did enslave and kill them as often as the Goa'uld did to you guys," Peterson remarked.

"Oh, come on!" Nova exclaimed. "You can't tell me they trust the Lucian Alliance more than you guys!"

"It might not be a matter of trust," Peterson suggested. "I mean, with the amount of bad blood left from when the Goa'uld were in charge..."

"The economic situation may also have an impact," Ha'kar suggested.

"Economics?" Nova repeated. Ha'kar glanced behind him, clearly uncomfortable with talking about it. He glanced toward the hall, making sure no one was standing there before leaning forward.

"Because humans were never given priority by the Goa'uld, they were not given many benefits," Ha'kar explained. "They mostly lived in slums."

"And you guys didn't do anything about that when you took over," Nova concluded with an unamused stare.

"The Council agrees that something should be done about the humans' status. However, our nation is still in its infancy. The humans are just a small percentage of our population and we have _far_ greater issues that impact _far_ more."

"You know they're going to be pissed off until you do something about it," Peterson remarked.

"We are aware. And hence why you are here. They are more likely to trust another human than a jaffa."

-.-

Nova patted herself down, making sure all her equipment was there. They were traveling light, weapons only meant for self-defense. Two extra mags for the MP7 and one extra mag for their berretta. Even their tactical vest wasn't as heavy. They weren't expecting a firefight.

"You sure two people will be enough?" Peterson asked. Nova instinctively paused. She was used to her team all commenting on her subject, then she would make a decision based on everything they bring up. But, her silence was met by more silence. She had to make a decision on her own.

"If we go in big, the kassa dealers will notice us and probably go into hiding," Nova explained with faux confidence. "Technically, we shouldn't even be bringing the guns we have."

"Why not?" Peterson asked. Nova understood his mindset. These weapons were just for defense. Every SG team took weapons with them no matter who they visit. Even when it came to visiting the Tok'ra or Jaffa they had weapons. But, the races and civilizations in Caldwell 70 were all developed. Unlike villages in Milky Way and Pegasus who didn't care about guns being brought in, likely because they didn't know what a gun was, the advanced civilizations took issue with armed aliens walking down their street.

"Well, if the Jaffa came to Earth we probably wouldn't want them to carry staff weapons in the middle of the city," Nova pointed out. Peterson shrugged to acknowledge she had a point. Nova patted her pockets, making sure she had her radio and GDO. Those were things she could not lose.

"Are you prepared?" a stern voice asked from the entrance to the room. Nova and Peterson looked up to see Ha'kar walk in, spear weapon still in hand. His stoic expression turned to confusion when he looked at what they carried. "Are you certain these weapons will be ample?"

"What, these?" Peterson asked, holding up an MP7. "You guys are still doubting our 'projectiles weapons'?"

"I have seen your heavier armaments," Hak'ar commented. "I feel those weapons will be more suited. Perhaps a minigun."

"A minigun?!" Nova and Peterson exclaimed in disbelief.

"Wait a minute…" Nova stuttered. "How do you know what a minigun is?"

"Brother Teal'c took the liberty of bringing your Earth movies when he returned," Ha'kar explained. "I recall seeing it in Terminator 2. That seems to be a superior weapon and better suited for this mission."

Nova wanted to facepalm. But, she knew the jaffa couldn't tell the difference between fiction and reality. Ok, maybe they'll know that the Earth wasn't under threat from being destroyed by Skynet. But they wouldn't know firing a minigun from the hip would produce so much recoil you'll end up shooting the clouds. Or that you'd need an entire backpack of bullets if you wanted to fire for more than a few seconds. Afterall, movies and tv shows were the reason so many people thought a defibrillator could start a heart.

"Yeah, I think a minigun is a bit overkill…" Nova said flatly. Even if miniguns worked like they did in the movies, she doubted she needed the firepower to clear out a forest. Then again, that could also be a misconception born form movies.

Ha'kar didn't sigh or roll his eyes. He was a jaffa afterall. Instead he reached behind his back and pulled out what looked like a pair of pistols. No, pistols wasn't a good description. It certainly had pistol grips, but at its front was what looked like the paddle of a staff weapon. Might not be as big, but it was weapon a that would be too bulky for one hand. There was even a horizontal grip beneath the charging paddle for the supporting hand.

"Hand blasters?" Nova asked as she and Peterson took the weapons from Ha'kar. The thing was certainly designed to be used like a pistol, but its weight distribution was closer to that of an MP5 with a retracted stock or even a Tec-9.

Ha'kar handed them both the holsters to carry the blasters.

"Why do you want us to carry so many guns?" Nova asked, attaching the holsters to her thigh.

"It is a precaution," Ha'kar said. "You'll find the human communities to be quite dangerous."

"Dangerous enough to carry miniguns?" Peterson asked skeptically.

"I do not wish to speak ill of humans…" Ha'kar said sternly. "However, the human communities are among the most violent locations in our nation. More jaffa die at the hands of humans than even natural disasters."

"You're…exaggerating…" Nova said. That statistic couldn't be right. The Jaffa Nation covered dozens of planets. On Earth, one planet alone, every passing moment someone somewhere was dying from a natural disaster. And that was one planet. Granted, armed with Goa'uld technology they could save more lives than on Earth but still… So how violent were the humans to kill more people than natural disasters on every planet in the Jaffa Nation?

-.-

Hailey pinched the bridge of her nose. At least her head had stopped spinning.

"How are you feeling?" Arcturus asked.

"Are you going to give me attitude if I answer?" Hailey moaned. Arcturus merely smiled at this question. They were taking an elevator up to Chen's office. Hailey had the data. She had what she needed.

The doors to the elevator opened, leading to Chen's office. Unsurprisingly, Chen was inside at a computer. But what did surprise her was Soren standing in a corner, leaning against a wall.

"Steven," Hailey announced. "I'm saying this while controlling my temper. I have half a mind to shoot you."

"You're welcome," Chen said mockingly, rising to his feet. "Looks like you had a bit of a scuffle." The bun that held Hailey's hair together was falling apart. It was now a mess of hair bundled together with more than a few strands now hanging out. And Arcturus' hair still stayed in its braided bun, her normally neat white dress shirt now had more than a few wrinkles.

"It was as you said," Arcturus said. "An unidentified assailant came after Hailey with a golden gauntlet."

Chen had picked up a cup of water and begun drinking when she began speaking. And when he heard this, he spit out his drink.

"Wait, golden gauntlet?" he repeated. "A ribbon device? So we dealing with a Goa'uld or just a human with a naquadah supplement?"

"Doctor," Soren spoke up. "Need I remind you that two of us in this room know not of what you talk about?"

"Our galaxy used to be ruled by creatures known as the Goa'uld," he explained. "They had naquadah in their blood. Naquadah's our galaxy's version of quarium. You needed it to use most of their technology including the ribbon device, a golden gauntlet they used to torture and kill people."

"So these so called Goa'uld are here?" Arcturus asked.

Chen and the others talked but Hailey wasn't paying attention. She just had ringing in her ears. She just saw faces. Dead faces. Chen: dead. Soren: dead. Arcturus: dead. Grogan: dead. Elliot: dead.

Telling Chen was a mistake she regretted. And now he just dragged in two more people. She wanted to berate him. But she couldn't even muster that. All she could do was turn around and storm off.

"Jen?" Chen asked, watching her leave. He looked at Soren and Arcturus awkwardly. Frankly he wasn't sure what to do in that situation. The easiest thing was to just let her go. But easy didn't sit right with Chen.

"Hold on a sec," Chen said, pushing past the two of them. When he got outside, he saw Hailey storming away.

"Hailey!" Chen called out.

"You do not want to talk to me right now," Hailey snapped.

"You're right, you look scary," Chen remarked. "I don't what's the cause of this little tantrum, Jen," he had started to say when Hailey whipped around.

"Tantrum?!" she snapped. "Steven, I told you not to look into this any further and what do you do?!"

"Hey, you sought me out," Chen argued.

"I also told you not to bring anyone else into this! Why don't you just shoot them in the head now?!"

It was then it finally struck Chen.

"So that's what this is about?" he said softly. "First Elliot. Then two days ago, Grogan right in front of you."

Hailey shook her head, clearly trying to keep her voice from wavering.

"I don't know if I have it in me to lose another friend," she said, her voice trembling. Chen sighed, not sure what to do.

"Just…come here," he said, bringing her into an embrace. Hailey was tense at first. But soon Chen felt her relax, wrapping her arms around him as well.

After a moment, he pulled away.

"Feel that?' he asked. "I'm not dead yet. And I don't intend on dying any time soon."

"But you can't-" Hailey tried to say before Chen interrupted her.

"Why do you think I called the two biggest ass-kickers on the expedition?" Chen asked. "I'm not exactly keen on having a mass murderer in my office. We're going to get to the bottom of this. And we're all going to walk out of it alive."

-.-

_**A/N: Hey guys. How's the quarantine? I'm in the news industry so I don't get the pleasure of staying at home. Hope this livens up your day. So a lot of stuff in stargate was held back by budgetary constraints. I don't have these constraints so I let loose on certain aspects like the jaffa. A lot of jaffa aesthetics medieval so I took inspiration from the Renaissance era for a lot of aesthetics. It was supposed to be different but you can see where and what it evolved from. Also, now that the jaffa get all the fancy toys the Goa'uld hoarded, I wanted to play with the idea of a primitive society getting advanced technology and having a hybridization of both. The world of Dishonored greatly influenced me since steampunk is pretty much uncharacteristically advanced technology on top of a primitive aesthetic. And I was trying to work the different military technologies into civilian life. Another thing I wanted was to address the humans. I remember when we first came to Chulak in Children of the Gods, there were humans. And there were usually humans on a lot of jaffa planets. I always wondered where they all went. **_

_**Anyways, stay safe and stay healthy out there. Hope this brightens your day.**_


	4. The Calm

In a building in Millennium, a bald man limped through the hall. He still had bullet holes in his chest from his encounter with Hailey and Arcturus. Normally he would go heal up but his master had summoned him. He entered the office, looking upon his master that sat in the office chair. The masked man was playing with a blue gem in his hand. But upon his subordinate walking in, he put it away.

"Sitri..." the Director welcomed. "You look worse for wear."

Sitri knelt down before him.

"My master," he said. "I fear I am not the bearer of good news."

"Really?" the Director asked. "And here I thought you got shot for the fun of it. Though I must wonder how my own disciple was bested by a human woman, one he was sent to monitor and nothing more."

"It was as you feared, my lord," Sitri said. "The expedition appears to accept the belief Carl Grogan committed suicide after becoming rash as a result of the chemical spill. However it appears Major Hailey does not accept that explanation and has begun investigating his death. It seemed she may have found some piece of evidence or information we overlooked."

"And so you felt the need to take action," the Director sighed, shaking his head. "And in the process you may have compromised our presence."

Sitri said nothing. The Director's accusations were absolutely true.

"She had the help of another," Sitri explained. No excuses, just facts. "Samanya Arcturus came to her aid."

"Arcturus?" the Director repeated.

"Yes, I believe Major Hailey, fearing for her life, recruited Samnya Arcturus for protection. My...attack has confirmed Major Hailey's suspicions to both of them."

Even with the mask, Sitri could tell the Director was angry. And that was rare.

"Fool..." the Director hissed. "There were many options on how to handle Major Hailey. We could have found a way to sabotage the evidence, make it appear she had nothing or even send her after nothing. But thanks to you, you have confirmed her suspicions."

"I accept my punishment, master," Stiri said, bowing his head. The Director rose from his chair, holding up his right hand, a gauntlet covering it. While it had a crimson gem at its palm, it was not golden but instead black metal. He held the black kara'kesh out, the gem glowing for a moment. But he then put it away.

"You may yet redeem yourself," the Director concluded.

"Yes, my lord," Sitri said graciously as the Director returned to his chair. "I am your humble servant. What is your thy bidding, my master?"

"If she has informed Samanya Arcturus then she may have informed others as well," the Director said. "I want you to find out how many and who."

"My lord, forgive me," Sitri said. "But that is many potential humans, everyone she has interacted with. And now that she is aware she will take great efforts to hide her movement."

"Then you best get started. Do not take action. Investigate and report your findings to me."

-.-

On one hand, Nova was glad the Jaffa Nation and its citizens had drifted away from wearing rags and drab robes. On the other hand, shehad mixed feelings about the new fashion. They had to blend in with the crowd so they got clothes to help them blend in.

Nova wore a black leather corset, one that was a nightmare to put on thanks to the laces down the front. Atop this she wore a black dark purple tailcoat, the flaps of her coat reaching down to her knees, touching the top of her boots. She holstered her guns at the back, hidden beneath her coat.

Nova had asked about wearing metal armor but only the jaffa wore those so they would stand out if they wore that in the human settlement. It was a shame too. Nova was admiring all the different armor designs the jaffa had depending not only on the Goa'uld they served but the rank they held.

The lower ranking jaffa had a series of interconnected metal plates form a sheet down the front and back of their body and a massive metal collar covering their shoulders and chest. One rank above that, the metal sheet would incrementally grow larger and the collar would grow smaller so that the sheet would cover the chest. These jaffa also has proper shoulder guards. Some jaffa had had segmented suits of plate armor. And Nova didn't have to be a historian to recognize lamellar armor, armor woven from rectangular pieces of metal. Judging from the design of their armor and the emblems on their heads, these were the former jaffa of Yu or Amaterasu.

But as amazing as they looked, Nova had to acknowledge that Ha'kar had a point. They could not stand out.

Next to her, Peterson was fumbling with his vest.

"Great," he mumbled, looking at his MP7. "Where am I supposed to hide this?" Nova's long coat gave her the perfect place to hide her weapons, especially with how small they were, but Peterson didn't have this.

Nova tossed Peterson a shoulder cape. It was a fur shoulder cape as opposed to the cloth ones some of the jaffa guards wore but it fit with the human attire and gave him a hiding spot. Peterson attached the cape to his left shoulder, letting it hang and cover his arm. Peterson attached his holster to his left hip, hiding his MP7 and hand blaster.

"And I think we're ready," Nova said. She walked over to the door and gave it three hard knocks. Ha'kar opened the wood door, looking at the duo. His helmet was on though his face plated was retracted.

"You are ready?" he asked. "Follow."

Ha'kar thumped his spear on the ground before marching away. Nova glanced back at Peterson one more time before following.

"So I assume you have a plan," Nova said as they made their way through the castle corridor. "I mean, you don't expect us to just wander around, what's the place called, Idirs? Without knowing what to look for?"

"We have traced the kassa distribution to a pub near the town square," Ha'kar said as they stepped out of the tower and onto the castle wall. They still had a ways to go but they were outside for the time being. Nova glanced over the wall and across the bustling town. The sun was still rising in the distance, not quite morning but not yet noon.

"So we just have to weed out the dealer from a general location?" Peterson asked.

"I fear we could not narrow the search further," Ha'kar answered. "The humans do not trust the jaffa and hence why we've requested your assistance. If you conduct your search in that area, I believe your search will bear fruit."

"You're hoping us being human would give us an edge that your jaffa can't," Nova concluded. They walked up to the next tower, a pair of metal doors sliding open to reveal a small stony chamber within.

Nova wondered why they were walking into a small stone room but she followed Ha'kar without question. The chamber had a single oil lamp hanging from the ceiling that provided light. And Nova could see a familiar panel on the wall next to the door, similar to what she's seen in images of the control pales in Goa'uld ships. Ha'kar pressed two buttons and the metal door slid close. Nova could feel the room begin to move, lowering quickly.

"Do we at least get a more specific plan on what to do?" Nova asked. The only thing she could think of right now was to ask around for kassa dealers and something told her that wasn't going to work.

"I fear not. The Grand Guard's presence is limited in Idris. Once you reach the pub, you will be on your own."

"Grand Guard?" Peterson repeated. "You mean the guys with shoulder capes?"

"Well if these the humans distrust the jaffa as much as you say, that's probably for the better," Nova commented.

They reached the ground floor, the room coming to a stop and the metal doors opening. They stepped out into the main hall and began walking toward the door. Nova took one last look at the regal lobby with its hovering orbs acting like a flying chandelier and carpet covering the floor. Nova turned around and looked at the massive wooden door they were headed for. At first Nova was expecting some sort of mechanism to open the door. They were way too big for a human being to open. But then she remembered how much stronger jaffa were.

Ha'kar pushed on the massive wooden door, the structure creaking as it opened. Light poured in from the city as the open air filled Nova's nose.

Peterson and Nova stepped out, letting Ha'kar close the door behind them.

"Follow," he said, marching off.

Nova couldn't get a good look at the city from the air, so she appreciated the opportunity to observe from the brick streets. Jaffa casually walked down the street, many of them with weapons casually in their hands or on their back.

Nova glanced at the lamppost-looking things. It looked like she was right. It was a Goa'uld telecommunication orb. The face of a jaffa appeared, speaking something in Goa'uld before fading.

Nova glanced through the windows into the shops. It was strange seeing these warriors manning a desk with some sort of cash register.

She glanced at some of the items on display. One store was selling clothes. There were vests and tunics on display at the window. Cloaks could be seen at the back of the store. Nova spotted an assortment of robes and dresses. In the next shop Nova could see an assortment of gems and jewelry on display. But considering the Goa'uld made heavy use of crystal technology, she suspected those gems to be various machines and handheld devices.

"Up ahead," Ha'kar announced, pointing at the building down the street. The city street was crowded but it wasn't packed. So Nova could see the stone building at the end, a brick road leading what looked like another castle. Massive archways served as the doors leading in, metal gates raised to allows access. It looked like the building had a glass dome for a ceiling. That ceiling must've been open too since Nova could see ships rising out of the building.

"The vi'kong on platform three will take you to Idris," the jaffa said. "Proceed with the plan. I will be monitoring to ensure nothing goes wrong."

"And if something does go wrong?" Peterson asked.

"Then you will likely die."

"Thanks…" Nova remarked sardonically. "That's…that's reassuring…"

The light of the midday sun vanished when she stepped inside. Yup, this was definitely some sort of starport. Dust filled Nova's nose, probably because of all the dust that gets kicked up when a ship comes or goes. There was another smell in the air too. The closest thing she could compare it to is gasoline, that smell you get when at the gas station. But that definitely wasn't gas she smelled. It was whatever those ships ran on. Or more like whatever gets expelled after they burn naquadah. No, she was told naquadah was a clean source of energy which mean no emissions. She'll have to ask Hailey about this some other time. But she smelled something.

They walked past a post, a Grand Guard standing inside the booth. The jaffa had his staff weapon resting inside his arm and leaning against his shoulder so he could work at the control panel in front of him. He wore a curiass and a gray cape over his right shoulder.

As they approached, the jaffa took his staff and held it out, blocking their path.

Ha'kar let out a long steady sigh. He reached inside a pouch on his belt and took out a scroll. He unrolled it, showing the message on the inside and the official seal stamped on the bottom.

"As you can see, I am here at the behest of the Council," Ha'kar said.

"My brother," the Grand Guard at the booth said. "It is not your business that I contend with. I simply insist that you take that disgusting thing off your head."

Ha'kar did not say anything. He simply retracted the remainder of his helmet into his suit. He was about to walk again but the Grand Guard did not move.

"Why must you Spartan Guard insist on continuing to wear the symbol of our oppressors?"

"Our helmets are not a symbol of Ares but a symbol of war, and we are warriors," Ha'kar said softly back. "In the meantime, I am on business from the High Council."

The Grand Guard gave Nova and Peterson a glance before moving his staff.

"Thank you for your hospitality," Ha'kar said with a bow before walking past. Nova and Peterson exchanged glances before following.

The hallway outside was just a giant loop encompassing something. And when they went inside, she could see what. Daylight flooded her vision again as she made it to a wide open area.

Looking across the platform, it was a wide open area like four football fields. There was a grid of massive pits in the stone floor. Most of the pits had a small crowd waiting around it. Some of the pits had a vi'kong docked inside, either letting jaffa in or out. There were vi'kong lifting off or landing.

Nova looked up at a second floor that looked out across the open field, jaffa watching the ships come and go.

Several Grand Guard marched about, their metal armor clanking as they marched. Each footstep sent vibrations up their body that rattled their metal armor together, creaking a series of clanks with each step.

"Ahead is the vi'kong that will take you to Idris," Ha'kar said.

Nova could see the ship at the far end of the starport. There were two jaffa outside, standing at attention.

Ha'kar walked up to the two, holding out the scroll for the two jaffa. They nodded before going back inside. The vi'kong roared to life as Peterson and Nova got aboard.

"We shall be in touch," Hak'ar yelled as the doors closed.

-.-

Hailey glanced at Arcturus again. The knight stood at attention at the door to Chen's lab, her weapon in sword form and nestled in her arm. Hailey knew she also had a caelum on her person. Normally Arcturus would have them strapped to her gauntlets. But they remained in their casual clothes as to not arouse suspicion, so Hailey didn't know where Sam was keeping her pistol.

"Jennifer," Chen said. "Arcturus isn't just gonna drop dead when you're not looking."

"Sorry," Hailey quickly said, turning away. "I guess I need something to distract me…" She looked around. Chen's lab didn't have all sorts of inventions and technology. He worked with computers so he had a handful of computers. His innovations came in form of programs. In other words, there was nothing in Chen's lab to distract herself with. That was until she looked at Arcturus.

"Maybe I can finally take a look at how your sword works?" she suggested.

"No," Samanya replied bluntly. "As I've said before, the science of our holy weapons is forbidden to all except for Aurox scholars."

"But the scholars are-"

"Jenny," Chen interrupted. "Watch what you say to the woman that can punch your heart out of your chest."

Hailey just threw her hands up in defeat. She's been after Samanya's sword since she got here and the knight's position had not budged. And while she didn't intend on giving up, she didn't feel like spending who knows how long begging Arcturus to let her see the sword.

She looked back at Chen instead, who was typing away at his laptop. She knew she had just agreed that she shouldn't be checking on everyone every few minutes but she couldn't help herself. She went over to the table and picked up the radio.

"Soren, check in," Hailey said into it.

"Here," Soren said gruffly. "Can you ask Doctor Chen for his status?"

Steven stopped, his shoulders visibly sagging. Hailey could practically hear his eyes roll.

"This isn't like the movies," he said slowly. "I can't just go clackety clack clack on the keys for two minutes and say…" Chen's voice trailed off as he saw the test results come in. "I got something…" Chen looked around in confusion when nobody jumped up at his statement. "No, guys, I have something!"

This time Hailey jumped. She rushed over, nearly knocking over Chen to see what he had. But what she saw were just a bunch of numbers.

"Ok, what am I looking at?" she asked.

"If I had to guess…a token. A security activation code."

Hailey finally got a taste of her own medicine. Normally it was her explaining things in a way that nobody could understand.

"I don't get it," she said.

"We were working under the assumption that the virus was set off by accident, that it somehow picked up some signal and mistook it for the activation code. But I think this _is_ the activation code."

"You mean the virus was activated on purpose?" Hailey asked in disbelief.

"Well either that or somebody sat on the button to send the code."

"So you believe the Tok'ra from your galaxy sent the transmission to activate the virus?" Samanya asked. Chen shook his head.

"Even with subspace, not a chance in hell a signal makes it this far let alone a readable signal," he said. "And that's good for us."

"Because if it came from this galaxy there's only two possible locations it could have come from," Hailey concluded. "The only people who can sent that signal are Tok'ra or someone that knows about the Tok'ra and the only people who fit that bill came from our galaxy."

"Exactly," Chen agreed. "They either came with us or are one of us. The fierri have agreed to let us use their planet as an alpha site. Which means the only places this signal could've come from is either there or Millennium."

Finally, Samanya moved, standing up from her chair.

"How would whoever it was know when to send the signal?" she asked, slowly walking over to the duo. "I was under the impression we knew of Typhon's arrival because of their distress signal."

Chen and Hailey exchanges glances, never having considered that before.

"You think Mercer knew ahead of time?" Chen asked.

"How would they know?" Hailey posed the question. "The Ancient communication stones didn't fit the budget." It was one of those things where she didn't know whether to face palm or not. There were a lot of things they wanted to bring on the expedition. From military equipment to science equipment, to picking very specific personnel. It was the reason they could never bring alien weapons on their expeditions. The cost of procuring or producing these weapons mean something else had to be taken off the list for it to fit the budget. She had left half her science projects back on Earth. Sure the idea of leaving behind the communication stones of all things seemed dumb, but who hasn't faced a management that made stupid decisions? So she accepted that answer.

"They lied to us before. Who's to say they aren't lying about that?"

Jennifer put her hand to her chin, her mind already at work devising a plan.

"Alright, what do you need?" she asked. "Can we pull data logs from the control room?"

"Could but wouldn't recommend it. There's no guarantee the transmission was sent from the control room. Not to mention how hard it'll be to pull that without anyone catching us. And that's assuming they didn't clear the logs. I recommend we pull it from the buffer at the base of the com-towers."

Hailey stopped to process. Chen wanted to go the communication towers and extract data from their buffer. It was a situation identical to what she did when she got attacked.

"Alright, take Soren with you," she said. Chen visibly flinched when he heard that.

"Maybe I can take Sam instead," he suggested. But Hailey didn't intend on budging on this one.

"I don't know who these guys are but they know that me and Arcturus are in this together. They see you and her together, they'll know you're involved too."

Chen sighed, forcing a smile on his mouth. He could not argue with that logic.

"Sure," he finally said. He was about to walk past Hailey but she grabbed him by the arm.

"I know you don't like Soren," she said softly. "But please…"

Chen didn't respond. There wasn't anything he could say. He had agreed to let Soren escort him but he knew he couldn't hide his disdain from those closest to him.

"Major Hailey," Soren said through the radio. "Might I suggest you leave Chen's lab and perform a series of visits to the other scientists?"

Hailey stuttered in disbelief. Why would Soren even suggest something like that?

"Soren, if they see me go to them, they might think they're involved somehow!" she exclaimed.

"You can't remain here forever," Soren explained. "And if they only see you interacting with Doctor Chen they'll realize you two are collaborating. By visiting them, there is a chance they will believe you are going about your daily routine in attempt to look normal."

"A chance..." Hailey repeated incredulously.

"I am unsure how I feel putting those not involved in the potential crossfire," Arcturus said.

"We don't have a choice," Chen pointed out. "You two head out first. Pick up reports or something. I'll give you thirty minutes then I'll go join Soren."

Hailey looked around, part of her wanting to protest but another part fearing this was the only way to keep them safe.

"Fine," she sighed. "Make it forty minutes." She walked to the door, pausing to look back at Chen. "And...be careful," she said.

Hailey and Arcturus left the room and Chen immediately got back to his regular work. He figured if there was someone monitoring him it would be through his computer. So he began running his usual programs while tinkering with some cybersecurity programs, which wouldn't be that different from what he usually does.

Forty minutes passed rather quickly, quick enough that Chen considered waiting another five. But he changed his password quickly before logging off the computer. He went around the lab, shoving what he needed into a back pack before exiting.

Unsurprisingly, Soren was waiting for Chen. He stood in the hall, leaning against the wall, his arms crossed and his head lowered. Chen figured out what Hailey meant when she said Soren was discreet. Arcturus would stand out carrying a sword everywhere. Soren knew how to hide weapons. Probably honed his skills from his time as a murderer but he saw no guns whatsoever on Soren. Granted, the fierri was wearing a gray vest but no one would ever look at him and think there was a danger.

But Chen knew Soren had some weapons on his person. Probably a metal wire, a knife, and pistol at minimum.

Seeing Chen approach, Soren looked up.

"Doctor Chen," he said. "Shall we?"

"Sure," Chen said stiffly, clearly masking his disdain. Soren was told to meet Chen as the base of the tower where the lab was at, probably because there was a tram station. Soren stood up and began following the Doctor down the hall.

"We're going to want to avoid leaving a digital trail," Chen explained. "We don't know if someone's monitoring the arks so we're going to take a tram to central tower then take stairs the rest of the way up."

"Understood," Soren said in a low voice. They left the tower, heading for the city streets. The city may have had an atmospheric shield but that didn't mean the Alliance left the streets open. Millennium could be considered city comprised of a single massive building. Even the so called 'streets' were interconnecting tunnels and halls. Spacious tunnels and halls that were practically two stories in height but tunnels and halls, nonetheless. The walls of every hallway were the walls of a building, a door leading in and windows overlooking the hallway. There were some parts to spice up the layout. There were circular plazas with a dome atop of it. There were courtyards with balconies and intertwining staircases. And there were stairs leading to the trams were on the lower levels, ready to help take members of the expedition to certain areas of the city.

Soren followed Chen down the stairs to the lower floors. The tram stations were very similar to the streets above, but noticeably more cramped with a much lower ceiling. It looked very much like a fancy subway station. The stairs led to a shopping section with the ticket booths at the end to lead down to the trams. And once they were past the ticket booths, they stood awkwardly in the dim light, waiting for the tram to arrive. The platform was a long rectangular chamber, a holographic band running in front of the tram rails.

Chen could see Soren occasionally glancing back behind them to make sure they weren't followed. The place was dead silent so hopefully that would at least give away any footsteps.

"What's the word?" Chen asked Soren.

"Nothing so far," Soren said softly.

The holographic band flashed green, the alien text changing to indicate an incoming tram. The silver cylindrical pod appeared out of the dark tunnel. It sprayed a silvery mist as it emerged, slowing down from supersonic speeds. Finally it came to a stop not with a whistle but with a hum.

The doors opened and the two got on.

The trip to the central tower was uneventful. They exited the tram in the central tower tram station. They took an elevator to the top of the tower, above the gateroom, all the way to the top.

The top of the tower was a maintenance room. It was where engineers stored their equipment for fixing any technical issues. The expedition had organized it to suit their needs.

But it also had a door to the outside for any equipment damage. Chen walked up to that door and pressed the button, the sliding door opened to the walkway outside. This high up even with artificial atmosphere produced some pretty strong winds.

"One moment," Soren said. He walked over to the door that lead in. He first went to the other side, popped open the control panel, and removed a crystal. He then went to the inside and pressed a button on that panel and closed the door. Chen could tell Soren had disabled the door panel on the outside, making it harder to open the door from that side.

"We good?" Chen asked.

"Not just yet," Soren replied. He paused and looked around as if he was searching for something. Finally he found it. He went over to the side and pulled out a bag of sand. These sand bags were primarily brought for utilitarian purposes like if they ever needed to make cover or if they ever needed a weight. But Soren didn't need the bag. He just needed what was inside. He took out a knife and sliced an opening in the canvas bag. He grabbed a handful of sand and sprinkled it over the ground in front of the door. He was very deliberate with his motion, waving his arm and evenly spreading the sand in a fan-like motion. Then he would step sideways and do the same again. When he reached the wall, he would step back and move the other direction. "Wait outside," Soren said. Chen obeyed as Soren continued sprinkling sand in across the ground. Finally, he stood outside and sprinkled sand on the inside. The wind blew the sand closest to the door away but it still left sand all over the room.

"You know someone has to clean that up," Chen said.

"If we are followed, we will know when we return," Soren explained. "Work fast," he ordered as he closed the door.

Chen took a nervous glance over the rail.

"Oh, just two hundred stories above the ground," he muttered. "How bad could this be?"

Normally Chen could just not look down but that was no longer an option. Because of the way Millennium was designed, looking out meant looking down upon another city. No matter where he looked, he was looking down. His only hope was to just focus on the golden clouds between the arms of the city.

He let out a deep sigh and started walking across the platform, his hand tightly gripping the rails.

The rest of the city may have been pretty, but the walkways at the top of the tower were built to be utilitarian. Back on Earth, radio towers could have ladders leading to the top. Being larger and taller, the Alliance could fit in stairs and walkways instead. Civil engineers would probably marvel at the usage of geometry, support beams holding up the walkways and the walkways being used as even larger support beams. But to the untrained eye it is a mess of bars and beams with metal platforms acting as walkways.

Chen warily looked over the railing. Sure, this was better than having a ladder, but he was still exposed to the outside air several hundred meters of the ground. And while the environment was controlled by the station, they still couldn't stop wind from being created this high up.

He glanced down and grimaced. That was a long drop. A LONG drop. And looking out at the other cities was no better. He was out in the open especially in relation to the other buildings. Martin had commented before that this city would be an urban sniper's wet dream.

"This place sucks," Chen muttered. "We're high up with no cover. I'm just waiting for a sniper to pick one of us off."

"You can put those fears to rest," Soren said. "If whoever this is shoots us, they will raise suspicions over our deaths."

"Fine and dandy and, oh wait, I won't care 'cause I'll be dead," Chen retorted.

"It means it is unlikely they would choose to shoot us or they will alert others to their operations. It will be difficult to cover up a death caused by one of your rifles. They are more likely to attack head on, possibly try to throw us off to make our deaths look like an accident."

That statement made Chen look down again, imagining someone hurling him over the rail and him just plummeting to the bottom.

"Just great…" he muttered. He had made it to the tower, the control box just ahead. He just had to reach it.

Chen gripped the railing tightly, walking over to the interface. He took off his backpack and took out a tablet, pulling out a few wires. He also pulled out an adapter, something to plug into the Alliance interface that can also connect to their computers.

"So why are we here?" Soren asked, watching as Chen plugged the tablet into the interface.

"There are dozens of towers on Millennium," Chen explained, typing something into the tablet. "But there are only five that can send a subspace signal like that. But messages are complex and signals are simple. We need to convert the message into a signal. That's where the buffer comes in. The message gets stored in a buffer, then translated into something that actually can be transmitted." Chen's fingers began typing away at the tablet. "Signals get lost when they get sent, so machines have something called TCP, essentially to make sure the receiver gets the entire signal and in the order where it's sent. When it comes to Alliance tech, this buffer right here is where it happens."

"I assume you'll have to find the right signal as well?" Soren asked.

"Unfortunately. We do subspace tests with subspace signals so…" Chen's voice trailed off. Soren had snuck up to being right behind him, looking over his shoulder. And Chen wasn't sure how comfortable he was with a former mass murderer breathing down his neck. "Little space, please…"

Soren back up as requested. Though Chen did notice the fierri holding a sawn-off shotgun of some sort. Where the hell had he been hiding that this whole time? It wasn't an Earth sawn-off either. It was probably one of the fierri weapons.

"Unfortunately these guys aren't just sending signals," Chen continued. "They're actually using our signals to carry their messages which means they would need someone on the inside at both the sending end and receiving end."

"How has this buffer not been cleared if its data yet?" Soren asked.

"Well, truth be told, only a handful of people know about this. It was a recent discovery."

"The buffer was a recent discovery?"

"No, even we use something similar, converting electrical signals to radio signals and the transmission control protocol and whatnot. What's different is that the Alliance records all their signals. So these shadow people didn't know to clear the buffer of the signal logs. It's like wiretapping."

"Wiretapping…" Soren repeated.

Chen muttered in annoyance. He forgot Soren was an alien.

"Never mind," he said "What's curious is that Mercer knows that the Alliance records everything in their buffer. Which means the Conspiracy should know. Yet our mystery bad guys don't."

"So you believe a third party and not these Tok'ra you speak of?" Soren asked.

"I've worked with the Tok'ra before and personally I'd like to think they have more integrity than to off our own people."

"Let's say you do successfully compare the signals and find a match. What would be our next step?"

"Well, it would confirm Hailey's suspicious about a mystery bad guy. If he did use these towers to send out a subspace signal, I might be able to ping the different computers that have used this tower lately. And…done." Chen pulled the chords back out and quickly shoved everything messily into his backpack. "Now let's get out of here."

-.-

Elsewhere in the city, the Director sat in his chair in front of his laptop, reading the files that went past. He was not too enveloped in his work to notice a man walk into the room.

"I see you've recovered from your injuries, Sitri," the Director commented.

"I once again express my utmost gratitude for forgiving my failure," the man said with a deep bow.

"Long-term success supersedes short-term failure. Now report on your findings."

Sirtis reached into his long coat and took out a holographic projector. He placed it on the table. After a moment, an orange hologram appeared showing the faces of multiple members of the expedition.

"These are the humans Major Hailey is closest to," Sirti reported. "Hailey could have turned to any one of them for help." There was a click and the image changed. "These are the ones she has interacted with over the past three hours. At the moment Steven Chen is our primary suspect."

"Why is that?" the Director asked, leaning forward in his chair.

"Doctor Chen's set of skills would make him useful in uncovering more about Charles Grogan's demise. Also, he is spending a strange amount of time with Soren Stavig, someone who Doctor Chen resents. When I went to follow them, I found my path blocked by sand scattered across the floor. The way it was scattered was very methodical, evenly distributed wave motions. If I attempted to cover my footprints, it would be obvious. I could not pass without revealing my presence."

"You think the sand was placed to try to see if they were being followed," the Director concluded.

"I do not know why the warrior Samanya Arcturus became involved, but I believe Major Hailey has sought out Doctor Chen for his skills and Soren Stavig to protect them."

"Shame…" the Director said, clasping his hands together. "We cannot cause too many accidents or the humans will become suspicious. Cleaning out four may present a problem."

"The others appear to be following Major Hailey," Sitri said. "If she calls off the search, the others may follow. You expressed a desire to convert her."

The Director leaned back in his chair, contemplating the idea.

"And how do you intend to do this while she is being guarded by Samnya Arcturus?" he asked. "We only have one young available. And a failed attempt will expose our operations to more than just them."

That was the only idea Sitri had. If he couldn't convert Hailey to silence her, then he was out of ideas.

"Then how may I serve, master?" Sirti asked.

The Director paused, continuing to think about the situation.

"For the time being simply report your findings," the Director said. "I will see what can be done."

"Yes, my master," Sirtis said with a deep bow. And without another word, he left the room.

-.-

"There it is, that same waveform," Chen pointed out. "Once again piggybacked on an outbound signal, one sent to the Typhon. It looks like we were talking with the Typhon not long after it reached our galaxy."

They had made it back to Chen's lab where he and Hailey were going over the results.

"So we were right, Mercer knew about Typhon coming," Hailey said.

"Guess we can also assume he and his buddies have Ancient communication stones then. They got word of Typhon coming and once it was here, they started talking the old fashioned way."

Hailey stopped to think.

"Alright, so we know someone is sending encrypted signals piggybacked on our official messages. Is there a way to figure out who?"

"Can we not locate the tower responsible for this 'piggyback'?" Soren asked. "We know this tower sent out the signal. Which tower modified the signal?"

"None of the towers are responsible for the piggyback," Chen explained. "You can't send a signal that modulates another signal, at least not with any precision. You need to modulate it before sending it." Chen paused when he realized what this meant. "Which means we can use this to our advantage."

"How?" Hailey asked.

"I can look at the buffer and find the machine ID of the computer that sent the transmission. So either a person at that computer made the modulation changes or a program on it did."

"So how does that help us?"

"Well if it's a person then we have a lead. And if it's a program, then it's probably getting signals from another location, which means I might be able to trace the signals up stream."

-.-

This was new.

Not being on a public transport. Nova's used public transport before. She couldn't even say the experience of riding a craft like this was new. It wasn't a spaceship, even if it was she's been on those too. It was just an airship. What was new was how empty it was.

Judging from its size and from how all the vi'kong looked the same, Nova guessed all these airships were built off an assembly line or something, no larger or smaller ones made for areas of higher or lower traffic.

As a result, the vi'kong she was on was more spacious than needed. The ship was divided into two parts, the cockpit and the passenger section. Nova didn't get to get a good look at the cockpit but the entrance to the ship took her past the door to it. From what little she could see, it was a chamber with a walkway running along the edge, manned by a small crew.

The passenger area was much larger and divided into three floors. The middle and bottom floors were where the passengers sat. The top floor was the observation deck where passengers can take in the view.

With the airship's intertial dampeners, Nova didn't even feel the vi'kong descend. It wasn't until she heard the jaffa pilot speak over the intercom did she realize anything.

"Alak, ana'kalah Idris ashi."

Nova cursed to herself. She knew she should've brushed up on her Goa'uld.

"I have no idea what that means," she said.

"Well he said Idris," Peterson pointed out. "And that's where we're trying to go so…"

"Alright, let's get moving then," Nova ordered, standing up. Her hand blaster and MP7 were strapped to the back of her hip so by this point it was rather uncomfortable sitting down and leaning back since the chair made her guns dig in."

As Nova made her way into the corridor that led to the ramp, she glanced up at the bridge again. Two jaffa were standing with their staffs ready at the doorway, as if they were expecting some sort of hostile takeover. Most of the jaffa she's seen were walking the streets with weapons. But these jaffa looked like they were expecting a fight.

Nova walked through the door, walking down the platform and out of the ship.

She expected the same smell she had when she was at the other starport. What she was met instead was the smell of trash.

Looking around, she noticed this starport was smaller. Much smaller. It only had room for two vi'kong, the other docking station being empty. And there was almost no one waiting at the platforms.

"Thank you," Peterson called back to the ship, but the ramp was already being raised. And within moments, the vi'kong was already flying away. "Wow, I see the service isn't very friendly. Two-star review."

"Let's go," Nova said. "We're a ten-minute walk from the bar."

When they stepped out of the building, the stark contrast between Idris and Abor Lada now obvious. Abor Lada was a fairy tale brought to life. Idris looked like it was just a rundown village. It reminded her of the days when the jaffa were still under Goa'uld rule. There was no technology. Just run-down brick and motor houses with dirt roads connecting them.

"Man…" Peterson said. "This place is a drab. Where's all the fancy tech? The city was full of this stuff."

"Distribution of technology," Nova said. "Back when the Goa'uld were in charge, they hogged all the advanced technology. After their fall, all that technology was distributed to the surrounding areas. Jaffa were guaranteed to have first run of it since they have to operate their ships and vehicles or work inside their palace. But the human populations were as far away from the cities as you could get so, even after the Goa'uld, next to nothing reached there."

The Jaffa cities were a chaotic yet beautiful hybrid of primitive medieval and Goa'uld technology. But the human slums…were just slums. The wooden buildings were decrepit. Some of them didn't even look safe to enter let alone inhabit. There were a lot of tents set up on the side of the littered and dirty street.

"So, how do you intend to find the kassa dealers?" Peterson asked, as they scanned the run-down street.

"We'll head to the pub first," Nova ordered. "We'll get a feel for our surroundings. Then we'll see how we can either draw out or narrow our search."

-.-

The Sanctum: the governor's mansion, a pocket dimension holding the rooms of a mansion where the city governor once resided. Mercer has since claimed it as his own to not only dwell in but to hold secret meetings with the IOA and Tok'ra. But Mercer did have some personal effects brought in, one of them being a grand piano. His fingers strummed across the keys, Metallica's unforgiven echoing through the empty building. The heavy sorrowful melody ended with a heavy press of the keys. Finally, Mercer took his fingers of the piano and rested his hands in his lap.

"I hope you enjoyed the performance," he said to seemingly no one. With that, a person emerged from behind a column as if the shadow behind it had summoned him. "Any news to report?"

"You are not my superior," the Tok'ra said venomously. But Mercer had no reaction. The Tok'ra wouldn't have shown up unless there was something to say. Finally, he spoke. "We have met with the Tau'ri and Jaffa to speak of what's transpired."

"There to confess your sins?" Mercer asked with a sneer.

"There to explain ourselves," the Tok'ra corrected. "No matter what it appears, we hold the Tau'ri with the utmost respect."

"The virus says otherwise."

"It was merely a precautionary measure. We still do not know why it went off."

"Regardless of why, you have betrayed the Tau'ri's trust."

"And we will fight to earn it back," the Tok'ra said defiantly. "As a gesture of good faith, the Tok'ra have agreed to be more forthcoming in regards to information regarding the Lucian Alliance. Considering the Tau'ri need us, hopefully they will come to see we are sincere."

"They need you?" Mercer repeated.

"Yes. If they diplomatic relations between our people were to end, this would raise suspicions and expose their operations."

"And you don't rely on them at all?" Mercer asked with a raised eyebrow. "Need I remind you Tok'ra physiology cannot use the communication stones? They were never made to handle two minds sharing one body. You need the humans to relay you messages back to the Tok'ra Council."

The Tok'ra paused, conveniently forgetting this aspect.

"Then perhaps we need each other," he concluded. Mercer chuckled at this.

"Pray you do," he said darkly.

-.-

Nobody knew anything. In fact, most of the humans seemed downright offended at the idea that they were attributed to the Lucian Alliance and kassa.

"The jaffa sent you, didn't they?" one asked.

"Alas our oppressors have returned to force their will upon."

"Cunning. So the snake-bellies use the lie of kassa being distributed in our village as an excuse to maintain their grip."

"I'm not bothering with emissaries of the jaffa."

Nova had noticed disgusted looks when they arrived. But with them asking, it seemed more and more people were becoming increasingly disgusted with their presence.

After what felt like hours, Nova and Peterson finally reached the pub. But the optimism they started with had evaporated. And between the downtrodden look of the whole place and how rude everyone was being, neither of them were hopeful.

The first thing they did was secure the area around the pub. The left side and back of the pub was surrounded by a fence. She could see a door at the back that she guessed led to the kitchen or a hall close to it. Through the boards she could see a young man in an apron speaking to someone outside her view. From the sounds of it, he was getting yelled at.

"Idiot, child. You have a single job and even that is too much for you. Finish your shift then return to The Castle."

"Well this place seems friendly…" Nova muttered to herself.

There was a gate in the fence so Nova was tempted to open the door just to ask if everything was ok. But this was not her business.

Once they had finished casing the outside, they went inside.

Like the rest of the slums, the pub with dark and filthy. The floor was in desperate need of cleaning and even just stepping on it made Nova feel like she needed to wash her boots. She and Peterson sat down at the counter, still looking around to take in everything.

For a moment the two of them just sat there, still trying to process everything that's happened.

"Wow…" Peterson said as he sat down. "I figured the humans may have issues with the jaffa but, I didn't expect this much.

"The jaffa were enslaved by the Goa'uld, and the humans were enslaved by the jaffa," Nova remarked.

"What, so you're not surprised?"

"Well I expected there to be tension between humans and jaffa. I just didn't expect it to be this bad."

"Don't hold it against them," a voice said. They looked up to see a bald man with a gray circle beard walk past the counter. "So you're the Tau'ri."

"You could tell?" Nova asked.

"Well you're human, but you don't act like most humans. And your attire has more in line with jaffa clothing."

"And who are you?" Peterson asked.

"Oh, I'm the owner," the man said, picking up a glass and beginning to polish it. "Call me Daus. I run this place. One of our patrons came in earlier talking about two human plants asking about kassa.."

"Plants?" Nova repeated. "Oh, they think the jaffa sent us to do stuff."

"Don't hold it against them. Being human in this galaxy isn't exactly a blessing. If it's not the Lucian Alliance then it's kassa dealers. And if it's not kassa addicts then it's sleepers."

"Sleepers?" Peterson repeated. "Sarcophagus addicts? I thought the humans had trouble getting hands on advanced technology. How are you guys getting sarcophagus addicts?"

"Well you only need a single sarcophagus and a savvy businessman," Nova said. "A few were probably scavenged from the Goa'uld."

"Actually two were given to our healer," Daus explained. "But one was stolen. It was a noble action gone awry."

Nova could not help but notice the way Daus talked about the jaffa. The other humans thought they were up to something simply because they were working with the jaffa. But Daus didn't seem to blame the jaffa at all for the sleeper problem.

"You don't seem to have the same hate for the jaffa," Nova observed.

Daus sighed, running a hand over his bald head.

"The jaffa have also suffered at the hands of the Goa'uld," he said. "They're still learning how to run a nation. They may be struggling but I don't believe them to have any real malice towards us."

"But you don't have _any_ hatred for them?"

Daus looked around, making sure no one one listening.

"Look, I won't lie," Daus said quietly. "When I was a kid I was a citizen of a nation that spanned three planets and almost a hundred colonies. But hyperspace-capable civilizations were a threat, so they bombed our planets and our worlds into irradiated wastelands, enslaved the survivors. Almost twenty billion dead. The jaffa took my wife to turn her into a concubine for their master. And they executed my son when I didn't mine enough naquadah for them. Hate the jaffa? I despise them."

"But..."

Daus sighed. It was clear speaking of this brought him a lot of pain. And whatever he was going to say next brought him more.

"But we all suffered at the hands of the Goa'uld. If we want to move forward we need to work past this."

"Maybe you can help us then," Nova said. "Do you know anything about kassa dealers?"

Daus looked around as it he was making sure no one could hear him.

"There is a man named Abur Sin," Daus hissed. "He comes around here every few days. Usually meets some people in the back alley. I don't know if he's your kassa dealer but…."

"It's a good place to start," Peterson said.

Nova had been looking for information regarding the kassa dealers. And now that she had it, she had to be suspicious.

"Why are you helping us?" she asked.

"This was never a hospitable place, but for the first time we can form a life for ourselves," Daus said, shaking his head. "I will not let sleepers or Lucian Alliance thugs take that away."

Nova and Peterson exchanged glances. The solution may have just been presented to them. But that was assuming this Daus was being honest. And Nova could see Peterson asking about that with his eyes. Can they trust him.

Nova hated this. She would usually consult with Steven and Martin over this. Sure, Steven would be suspicious and Martin would be trusting, but it's the reasons why that helped influence her.

She had to make a decision.

"How often?" Nova asked. They didn't have much of a choice. She would just have to prepare for it being a trap.

"He'll be back soon. He wasn't here yesterday which means he'll probably be here today or tomorrow."

"Well I don't think we can wait for tomorrow," Nova said. "What about time? When does he arrive?" She still had to escort the IOA representatives back so she couldn't take too long. And if she did, she would need to check in with the SGC to let them know to send another SG team to get the IOA.

"He usually arrives in the midafternoon," Daus explained.

"What are your orders, Major?" Peterson asked. Nova didn't answer right away. She needed a moment to form a plan.

"And this Sin guy comes into the pub?" she asked.

"Comes in, waits at a table, then usually walks out back with another person," Daus said. "Sometimes multiple people."

"Alright, we'll loiter here," Nova said to Peterson. "Can you give us a signal if you see this Sin guy walk through the door?"

"I can," Daus said enthusiastically. "I'm looking forward to having our town free of that cursed food."

-.-

There were only a handful of areas Chen wasn't allowed in. Those were the higher security sections of the city permitted to only the higher ranking military personnel. And the control room was not one of them. Yet for some reason, he felt like he was doing something wrong when he set foot in the control room.

He nervously glanced around, almost fearing someone knows his intention.

Millennium's day cycle was drawing to an end so there were no new missions or teams to be sent out. There were only a handful of technicians in the room including the wheelchair-bound Donavan. Though the lights were still on, the orange glow of the dimming nebula outside shone through the windows into the control room and gate room.

Chen casually took a seat at computer in the far corner. This part actually was in line which what he usually does. He takes the corner so he could be away from everyone. And now he could work in silence and secret.

He had just logged in when a voice caught his attention.

"Steven, mate!" Charles called out. Chen was definitely on edge. Hearing Martin's voice made him jump and he had to resist to not leap out of his chair.

"Hello, Charles," Steven greeted with obvious annoyance. He stood up to see Martin jog up to him.

"Where were you, I've been looking everywhere for you?" Martin asked with equal annoyance.

"Busy," Chen said. "Look, I might have busy for rest of today so-"

"Corin's leaving!"

Chen bolted out of his seat for that one. Everyone in the control room looked over at the sound of the chair being knocked over.

"What?!" he exclaimed. "When? Why?"

"I think he's not big on us allying with the Ror'char."

Chen had to admit he should've seen that one coming. The Ror'char was the dictatorship that claimed the life of his wife.

"Can you stop him?"

"I've tried but he's hellbent on leaving. He's right now in that memory machine thing to get the important parts of his memory of Millennium removed."

It took a moment for Chen to realize what Martin was talking about with the memory machine. It was the machine SG-1 bought that could alter a person's memories including fabricating or deleting. It must've been part of Mercer's terms. He could only leave as long as he gets important memories about Millennium removed.

"Maybe you can stop him," Martin suggested. Chen felt his heart sink. He had to got stop Corin from leaving.

But he couldn't let this trail go cold. Someone had attacked Hailey so whoever was behind everything knew she was on their trail. And if he left his data, they might delete it.

"Can you at least slow him down?" Chen asked instead.

"Slow him down…" Martin repeated.

"I'm kinda busy," Chen said through gritted teeth. He hated this. He was helping Hailey with something important. A conspiracy that was actively threatening everyone in the Expedition and potentially Earth took priority. Still, he wanted to go to Corin and try to convince him to not leave.

"With what?"

"I can't tell you. But try to stall. I want to talk to him."

"C'mon, what's so important you can't try to stop him?"

"Charles, you have to trust me."

Chen stared at Martin, his gaze unflinching and unblinking. Maritn could tell from that stare that whatever it was, it truly was important.

"Alright, I'll see what I can do," Martin conceded. Martin kept watching Chen as he placed his hands on the table to support himself. There was no hiding the frustration on his face. Could anyone blame him? Corin was planning on leaving. And this wasn't like was going to Earth like Nova. It wasn't like someone moving away. You could always keep in touch with someone moving away. Once Corin's gone, he's gone. There wasn't exactly an intergalactic cell phone service.

"I don't suppose you can tell me what you're doing after you're done," Martin asked.

"Maybe depends on how it turns out," Chen sighed.

"Alright, I'll tie him to the fort until you're done," Martin said. "Is there anything else you need?"

"Uh…privacy," Chen stated. He didn't mean to sound so harsh. But he couldn't work with Martin looking over his shoulder. If those he was going after thinks Martin knows they might take him out. So Chen had to get him away.

"Sure, mate," Martin said. "I'll talk to you once this is all done."

Martin turned around, glancing back at Chen one last time before leaving.

Chen slowly sat back down, running his fingers through his hair. He had to focus. According to the buffer, this was the computer that last sent a subspace transmission, probably part of the ongoing research into deep space subspace communication.

According to the buffer logs, this was the computer. Chen had to be thorough, record every detail so he could review it at his own leisure later.

-.-

Everything was in place. Nova and Peterson sat at a table, waiting for Daus to give the signal. They even had a plate of food on the house to help with the act. Nova sat so she had a clear view of the door, watching people come in and out. After over an hour, Nova was already getting impatient.

She glanced at Daus again as another man walked through the door, a short lanky man. But Daus didn't make any gesture after looking at the man. Wasn't the guy.

Nova glanced at Daus. No one was going through the front door so she didn't expect anything. She was surprised when she saw him nodding, his eyes flicking toward the back. Nova glanced in that direction. There were two men heading for the back door.

Nova looked at Peterson, quickly gesturing in that same direction with her head. The two of them got out of their chairs. Peterson headed for the front door while Nova went to follow the two men. They headed for the back of the pub, past the bathrooms and to the back rooms. They were out of sight from everyone else. They walked past the backrooms and storage rooms and headed for the back door. She watched them go through a door at the back. One of the men, the one with a chain curtain, pause to wedge something in the door. It looked like a brick. That must have been Abur Sin. He then let the door close, the brick stopping it from closing all the way.

Nova reached into her coat, taking out the MP7. She extended its stock and tucked against her shoulder. She pressed herself against the door frame, peeking through the crack. She waited for another ten seconds. She had to wait for Peterson to get into position. He would be waiting for her to make her move first.

Finally, she did. She burst through the door, aiming her weapon at the two.

"Stand to, gentlemen," she ordered. At the same time, Peterson emerged from around the corner, aiming his weapon at the duo. The two men, whipped around, eyes wide with shock and fear. They looked around, clearly contemplating running. "I wouldn't advise that. Keep your hands were we can see them."

The two men held their hands out to the side but that didn't really assure Nova. There could've been weapons in their clothing.

"Search them," Nova ordered Peterson. Peterson cautiously approached the two, his MP7 kept steady. He lowered it as he approached one of the men, a bald hairless man with squinty eyes. He patted him down, taking out a bag of something out of his clothes. He tossed Nova the bag before promptly going over to Abur Sin and did the same. Peterson produced another bag and once again tossed it to Nova. Once that was done, he raised his gun once more while Nova lowered hers so she could get a good look at what was in the bags.

For the first bag she knew what was in it before she even opened it. It was a bag of coins. She tied it back up and set it on the ground as she got to work analyzing the next. She was expecting a bag of purple corn. Instead she found a bag of…leaves. Perhaps leaves wasn't the best term. It reminded her of chopped parsley. It took a good five seconds for her to realize what she was looking at.

"Damn it," she muttered. "It's not kassa. We just busted a dealer of space weed." She looked at Abur Sin then back at the bag she held. What now? They still might be with Lucian Alliance. In which case they would have to hold them. But if they weren't, they would be wasting time and the kassa dealer might be able to get away.

"Get out of here," Nova said, tossing the two bags back at them. The two humans looked at them fearfully before scurrying away. Nova put her hand to her face.

"Now what?" Peterson asked.

"Head inside," Nova ordered. "We'll figure it out from there." She was beginning to think this was a lost cause. The jaffa couldn't find the kassa dealer. What would she be able to?

She and Peterson put their MP7's away before heading back inside.

"Oh, damn it," Nova muttered when she reached the door. That' why Abur Sin had propped it open with a brick. She had knocked the brick out when she burst through and the handle on the outside was broken. So she and Peterson went through the gate in the fence before circling back through the front. Daus was waiting for them to return, looking up when he saw them again and circling around the counter to meet them, still scrubbing the dirty plate in his hand with a wet towel.

He quickly went over, closing the distance so he didn't have to speak too loudly.

"Did you get him?' he asked.

"Weed dealer not kassa dealer," Nova said in disappointment.

"Weed?" Daus repeated.

"Never mind. Either way, he wasn't the kassa dealer."

"Shame," Daus sighed, letting his arms hang loose.

"Isn't that the plate you were washing when we first came in?" Peterson asked.

"Yeah. Damndest thing. One of those days you sometimes get scrub something clean."

That statement caught Nova's attention.

"Can I see that?" she asked. Daus handed her the plate. Nova looked at the streaks on the plate, purple streaks that looked like the plate has absorbed the color. "That's kassa."

It took a moment before Peterson realized what that meant. He immediately pulled out his MP7 and aimed it at Daus. The entire pub fell silent as everyone looked over to watch the commotion.

"Woah, you can't possibly think…" Daus stuttered. Nova considered her options. She felt she could trust Daus but she needed more than just a gut feeling to trust him.

"Stand down, Peterson," Nova ordered.

"Sir?" Peterson questioned.

"If he was who we're looking for I doubt he'd be holding the evidence in plain view of us. Stand down."

Peterson clearly disagreed but obeyed, lowering his weapon.

"Who else works here?" Nova asked.

"It's just me, the maid, and the cook," Daus stuttered, clearly still shaken from having a gun pulled on him.

"Can we speak to the cook?"

"Sure," he said, quickly heading to the back.

Nova could see Peterson was still confused about what was going on.

"I think it's the cook," Nova said. "Think about it. He can sneak kassa into the meals."

"But to what end? Isn't that like a drug dealer giving freebies?"

"Kassa is very addictive. If that cook can get someone addicted then he or someone else can find that person and voila. They have a new buyer."

"If it's the cook, how have the jaffa not caught him yet?"

"Because Jaffa in Idris are a big deal. They rarely come out here and they're hated. So if jaffa show up, it'll be the biggest talk of the town if two jaffa show up. Daus heard about us and we were just asking questions. The cook would be able to hide all the evidence."

Before more could be said, there was a loud crash.

"What the hell was that?" Peterson wondered aloud. He and Nova readied their weapons and immediately headed for the back, Peterson behind Nova. They stacked up on the door to the kitchen. Peterson squeezed Nova's shoulder and Nova gave a nod. They burst into the room, quickly clearing the area. It was just a rectangular room with a counter at the center. But on the ground lay Daus.

"What happened?" Nova asked, rushing to his side.

"Narud," Daus groaned, sitting up. He pointed to the door on the other side of the room. Nova recognized that door. It was the door to the back door. "I'll be fine. Get Narud."

Nova complied. She and Peterson went for the back door. They stacked up before bursting through. They had just finished clearing the area when they spotted someone running into the distance. It was the boy Nova had seen earlier. He didn't even close the gate behind him.

Nova and Peterson burst through the gate, running after him.

"Move!" Nova yelled, shoving past several people. The crowd scattered, clearing a path for both her and the Lucian. Another reason she missed her old team. Even if her and Martin's stamina beat Chen, he was rather good at parkour. Not to Soren's degree but he could traverse these crowded environments. Or maybe she could order Martin to snipe the person in the leg and skip the chase. Since she didn't have his sniping skills she'd have to shoot him center mass which meant shooting him in the chest.

She couldn't think about that. She could only make the chase on foot. The Lucian turned down another alley, one that soon turned into the roof of another building. The land had ended in a cliff, a building built at the base of that cliff so that its roof lined perfectly with the ground above. The pirate leapt off that roof and landed on the next one. Nova stopped herself just in time. She knew there was no way she was making that jump.

Terra had enough of this. She immediately got to work taking off all her weapons.

"Nova!' Peterson called out, quickly catching up, out of breath from the run.

"Here, hold this," Nova muttered, shoving her guns into Peterson's hands. It was her MP7 and Berretta. She would keep her Berretta but the hand blaster was lighter and she needed the speed.

Now free from her excess burdens, Nova took off again. She leapt off the roof, landing on the next one. She had lost ground taking off her equipment. She had to make up the lost ground.

Narud leapt off the roof, hitting the ground and rolling to distribute the impact. Nova leapt off the roof too, though instead of rolling, her feet slipped out from under her when she hit the ground. She growled in annoyance. That meant more lost ground she needed to catch up on. But she didn't have time to think about it. She got back to her feet and got back to the chase. Narud was now taking off down the street, trying to shove his way past everyone. Being behind him actually was paying off. He had to shove his way through the crowd. By the time Nova traversed the same ground, the crowd had parted and let her through.

Suddenly, Narud stopped, whipping around and pulling out a pistol. Nova dove behind some barrels while Narud fired several shots at her. The moment he finished, Nova yanked out her hand blaster and fired back. She hated this. They were in a crowded place. One missed shot was all it would take to kill an innocent person. So she aimed low. If she missed a shot she would hit the ground.

The missed shots send plumes of mud into the air like someone had loaded an air cannon with the stuff. Narud covered his face, realizing the hand blaster had him beat in terms of fire power. As if that wasn't enough, Nova could hear the click of the pistol magazine going empty.

He threw his gun away in frustration and ran. Nova holstered her hand blaster before returning to the chase.

She must've run across the entire town. But, she finally got close enough. She reached out and grabbed the back of his collar. Nova dug her heels into the dirt, bringing her to a stop. But with the pirate still in motion, she felt him yank her arm forward. The two of them came crashing to the ground and tumbling across the dirt.

Nova saw the pirate reach for something at his belt. She didn't know what it was, but she could guess it was another weapon. She grabbed his wrist and pinned it to the ground. The pirate thrashed, trying to get away. He couldn't squirm out but he was able to wedge his knee between him and Nova, shoving her backwards. Terra Nova's hands flew to her gun, yanking it out of her holster. But the pirate was just as quick. He leapt to his feet, grabbing a nearby woman and hiding behind her.

"Stop!" Nova ordered, aiming her hand blaster at the pirate, who had pulled out a knife and held it to his hostage's throat. They were both out of breath and tired. Nova wasn't sure if she could make the shot. Each beat of her heart caused her hands to shake.

"Back off!" Narud barked. Nova froze, her weapon trained on the pirate. "Don't follow," he hissed, stepping backwards. Nova was about to step forward too but Narud jammed the blade against the woman's throat with a vicious snarl.

"I said back off!" he yelled. "I'll do it! I'll-"

A blue bolt of electricity suddenly streaked from the sky, hitting the two humans. The woman let out a startled scream while the pirate let out a strangled cry, his knees buckling as he fell to the ground.

Nova instantly moved in and kicked the knife away, putting her knee on the pirate in case he suddenly got up. She looked up in the direction of the electricity. She spotted a familiar looking jaffa standing on the rooftop, a zat in his hand.

"Well done, Major," Ha'kar said. Nova was covered in dirt and sweat from the run. She knew jaffa had alien levels of physique, but he wasn't the least bit tired at all.

"Wait a minute," Nova stuttered. "Were you there the whole time?"

"I felt it prudent to wait ahead in case he ran."

"You mean you could've zatted him at any time?!" Nova exclaimed in disbelief. She was hot, sweaty, and tired. And she just found out it might've been needless.

"You were putting in so much effort chasing him I thought it would be a shame to intervene," Ha'kar said matter-of-factly. Nova buried her face in her hand, shaking her head in disbelief. "You may take credit for his apprehension if you wish."

Nova looked over to see Peterson run up, carrying Nova's equipment, tired from running the distance.

"What I miss?" he panted, leaning forward to catch his breath.

It wasn't an easy catch but the pirate had been caught. Now it was a matter of getting him back.

The first thing they had to do was disperse the crowd. Ha'kar's presence int he village was not a welcome one with parents quickly carrying away their children as if Ha'kar was going to eat them. Ha'kar took out a communication orb and called for a cargo ship, which arrived in minutes. All of them were ringed aboard and it was back to the capital.

Narud regained consciousness but didn't dare do anything since he was at the end of two guns and a zat. Once they ringed back down into the capital building, two Grand Guard took Narud away.

"So what'll happen to him?" Nova asked, the Grand Guard being less then pleasant with the Lucian prisoner.

"He will be interrogated," Ha'kar said. "You have done us a great service today, Major Nova." Ha'kar made a fist and hit it against his heart with a small bow.

"Do you know if the IOA is finished?" Nova asked. "Once they're done we're supposed to bring them back."

"Actually, it seems that not only are they not finished, they have new delegates."

Nova looked in confusion as Ha'kar began leading them to the stone chamber.

"Delegates?" she asked as the doors slid close.

"Yes, the Tok'ra arrived not long ago. They have been in meeting ever since. After your mission was complete, they have all requested to be debriefed on what has happened."

Nova exchanged glances with Peterson. It made sense to her that the jaffa would want to know what happened since it's their city. And of course the IOA would want to know. But what did the Tok'ra have anything to do with this?

The doors opened and they headed for the council chamber.

"So are they asking for us one at a time or together?" Nova asked.

"On the contrary, the councilors have only requested you," Ha'kar said. This earned a confused reaction. It was only common sense you interview everyone involved to get a full picture. Nova couldn't imagine why only she would be summoned.

The debrief was as boring as could be. Peterson was allowed to wait in a dining hall in the mean time. Nova went in and was face to face with the jaffa, Tok'ra, and IOA. Frankly this whole interview felt like she was on trial. They asked questions and she answered, giving a timeline of what went down. Some of the jaffa asked about the status of the human village, trying to get a clearer picture of what living conditions were.

"After that, Ha'kar zatted the Lucian and took him down," Nova concluded. She looked around the room at the council of Jaffa and Tok'ra Councilors and IOA officials. After catching the kassa dealer, they brought him back to the capital. He was locked up somewhere while she and Peterson were to debrief. What caught her off guard was seeing the jaffa, Tok'ra, and IOA all together to debrief her. She knew there was some sort of meeting going down but she didn't expect the Tok'ra and she certainly didn't expect all three of them to sit in on what was clearly jaffa-only affairs. Kassa dealers in the jaffa nation didn't exactly concern the IOA or Tok'ra.

"I see," the jaffa councilor Mer'rik said. "I believe that will be all."

"There is one more thing," Nova added. "Before we took him down he received a transmission. It said to report back to the castle. Does that mean anything?"

It clearly meant something. The IOA representatives glanced over at the Jaffa and Tok'ra councilors. And the jaffa's stoic expressions wavered. She had clearly caught them with their pants down.

"The castle is a Goa'uld prison," Mer'rick said. "Prisoners were kept alive for…entertainment. A majority of its prisoners were humans. After the fall of the System Lords, the prison fell into the hands of the Lucian Alliance."

"A Lucian Alliance outpost?" an IOA agent asked. There were clearly uncomfortable glances between everyone in the room.

"It is the Lucian Alliance base of operations" a Tok'ra councilor said. This elicited a response. Namely outrage from the IOA.

"I thought we had agreed you would share all knowledge of the Lucian Alliance," a woman close to Nova stated.

"I am sharing this now, am I not?"

"If we know where the Lucian Alliance leadership is stationed, we must attack as soon as possible."

"I strongly discourage this course of action," another Tok'ra from across the room objected.

Before more could be said, Dovelock raised his hand to quiet everyone down.

"Major Nova," he said. "You are now dismissed." Dovelock then turned to Ha'kar. "Ha'kar. I want you to open a line with Stargate Command. We need to contact our superiors. We will summon you when we are done."

"Understood," Ha'kar said with a bow. Nova stood at attention one last time before turning and leaving the room with Ha'kar. The spartan guard opened the door and let Nova out first before following her. The moment they were out, Ha'kar turned to a nearby jaffa grand guard.

"Jaffa, kree," he barked at the grand guard him. "Cre'tok tau'ri."

The Grand Guard put a right fist to his left shoulder and bowed before reaching into his belt pocket and pulling out a communication orb.

Since the order was sent, Ha'kar turned back around and let the Grand Guard to his job.

Nova could not help but noticed Ha'kar was not making his usual remarks. No blank-expressioned insult.

"Is something wrong?" Nova asked.

"The decision to attack the Lucian Alliance base of operations is…unwise."

Ha'kar was silent for a moment. Nova tried to read his expression but got nowhere considering Ha'kar didn't have an expression to read.

"Perhaps the Council or the Tok'ra are bested suited to explain why," he said. Nova was about to ask why but things started clicking in her head.

"So you knew?" Nova asked. "You and the Tok'ra. You've known where the Lucian Alliance headquarters were all along."

"Do your people tell us everything they know of the galaxy?" Ha'kar asked. That statement was almost heartbreaking for Terra. She had been away in another galaxy for so long. She never cared much for the politics of the Milky Way but she didn't expect so much tension not just from the governments of Earth but from Earth's alien allies.

Nova and Ha'kar glanced over as the Grand Guard walked back into the Council Chamber. He didn't say anything but they could both tell that they had Stargate Command on the line.

"I apologize, I have soured the mood," Ha'kar said. "However, you must understand. While most jaffa have the utmost respect for the Tau'ri, you must also acknowledge the recklessness of your actions during the reign of the System Lords."

"I've heard it talked about," Nova confessed.

"Your victory over the System Lords is the product of chance," Ha'kar said. "I know that you do not wish to believe it, but every System Lord you killed resulted in the rise of another more powerful one who would absorb the resources of the fallen."

"Yet we still won. We couldn't exactly sit back and let the Goa'uld do what they want."

"Every System Lord you eliminated increased the chaos of the galaxy. In the past it was the Goa'uld Empire who would suffer the chaos. If you were to employ similar tactics against the Lucian Alliance, it would the Jaffa Nation, the Tok'ra, and every civilization finally liberated from Goa'uld and Ori oppression that will be affected."

"We aren't going to just pop Lucian leaders," Nova argued. "If we take down the headquarters we can take down their entire leadership."

"We kept the location of the Lucian Alliance headquarters secret for a reason," Ha'kar said in a sterner voice than normal. "Major Nova, the Lucian Alliance is not a conventional foe. You cannot simply bomb their capital and expect a surrender."

"That doesn't explain why you don't take down their headquarters."

Ha'kar fell silent. Even on his blank expression Nova could tell he was trying to think of a way to explain things to her.

"You have not felt the full brunt of the Lucian presence," he finally said. "Because we know the location of their headquarters, we been able to monitor their activities. This is why their most ambitious attacks have not been successful."

"If you take out their headquarters, wipe out the entire upper management of the Lucian Alliance, and the Alliance literally falls apart."

"In order to accomplish that you would need to take out every last member of its governing body," Ha'kar pointed out. "If you fail to do that, then the remaining members will scatter, distributing their operations across the galaxy. Their will compartmentalize themselves, make it impossible to take them out in one fell swoop and make it harder to track their operations." Ha'kar glanced back at the departing politicians and diplomats, both human and jaffa. "I hold nothing but respect for the Tau'ri, but you cannot deploy the same tactics as you did for the Goa'uld."

Nova looked away, thinking about what Ha'kar said. She certainly sounded confident, a skill she's picked up growing up. But her doubt was getting to her. She missed being able to consult with Chen, Martin, and Corin.

The two looked over when the Grand Guard returned. The two jaffa exchanged a few words in Goa'uld. The Grand Guard gave another bow and marched away.

"What's the word?" Nova asked.

"Which word are you inquiring about?" Ha'kar asked.

"No, it's a figure of…nevermind. What's happening?"

"I appears discussions will be taking longer than anticipated," Ha'kar said. "You and the IOA will be remaining for the night. We will provide accommodations."

At first Nova wasn't keen on staying. She didn't have a choice but it didn't mean she had to like it. But the room she was assigned was nice. The floor was stone but it had some nice carpets surrounding a large bed. The dressers at the side were empty which was unsurprising since this was a guest room.

The jaffa gave her a change of clothes, some jaffa garments this time, a tunic and trousers made of animal hide and a sash to tie around the waist.

On the balcony was a square mat just barely large enough to sit on. And this was another reason the stay wasn't that bad.

Nova looked up at the sky, awed by the aurora in the night sky. A single giant moon was overhead, a few clouds gently drifting buy. The night sky was a dark blue but there was a silver aurora above her head, dancing like massive shimmering ribbons. And the silver of the aurora and the glow of the moon made it seem like the clouds were also glowing. As she looked across the city, she could see specks of light from all the buildings. On several of the balconies she could see jaffa meditating.

Nova glanced back when she heard three solid thumps at her door.

"Come in," Nova said, walking back into the bed chamber. The door opened and Ha'kar stepped in. No longer in his armor, he instead wore his white robes. "Ha'kar, what're you doing here?"

"I was ensuring our guests are comfortable," he said.

"Yeah, it's all good here," Nova said, gesturing back to the bed chamber.

"Excellent," he said. "I also wanted to apologize for my hostile tone earlier today."

Nova looked at Ha'kar in confusion. Hostile tone? When? The only time she could think of was when they were talking about the idea of invading The Castle. But Ha'kar was calm to the point of stoic. Was that what passed as hostile? And if that was hostile, what did it mean when a jaffa started yelling?

"So what happens if they do decided to attack The Castle?" Nova asked. No more debates of what the right decision was. Just a discussion of what happens.

"I cannot foresee that happening," Ha'kar said. "Us and the Tok'ra are in agreement that attacking The Castle now will only make the situation worse. And hopefully without our aid, your people will not try."

"And if they do?" Nova asked. Ha'kar glanced at her. He didn't have any real expression but judging from his movement she assumed this was the jaffa equivalent of bewilderment or shock. "Hey, I'm not saying I agree with the idea of a solo attack," Nova clarified. "But the decision isn't up to me. It's up to my bosses."

"Let us hope your leaders are not so foolish," Ha'kar answered.

-.-

Hailey burst into the room. But it wasn't Chen's lab this time. It was a security station. The expedition couldn't use all the security stations even in the central city and even the ones they did use were not used all the time. But this one was an unused one. The weapon racks were left empty and the computers were left turned off until now.

When Hailey approached the station, she could see Chen through the two windows since the station also served as the corner of the hall. She and Arcturus went through the door into the lobby. They walked past the seats lining the wall, still watching Chen through the window inside the lobby. The door to the main area was open, letting Hailey burst in.

"You have something?" she asked excitedly.

"I think so," Chen said. "So I grabbed the computer data and was going through the security logs."

"And?" Hailey asked excitedly.

"A Kostas Ivanov was logged in at the time."

"Which means he was involved with Grogan's death."

"I have met Mister Ivonov before," Arcturus remarked. "I find it difficult to believe he would be involved in any manner."

"Same here," Chen said. "Especially since the time when the signal was modified was during his lunch hour. He was having a card game in the mess hall. When he left someone logged back in while he was gone and used his computer to modify the subspace signal that the Typhon picked up before logging out."

"So someone hacked the computer?" Hailey asked.

"Nope, this was local. Someone used his password to log back in"

"Steven, how is that good? There's no digital trail for you to follow."

"Because he left a physical trail instead." Chen typed a few commands into the security console and pulled up a map of the control room, several dots moving about. "We have the life signs data recorded. We have the time and even the exact place this all went down. We can follow the life sign."

"You should include other half of your findings," Soren commented. Chen's head sank between his shoulders.

"Yes, I'm getting there," he said coolly. "So the life sign goes into one of the city's arms. And we think the life signs detectors in the arms have been tampered with since we can't pick up anything. But there is a section of that arm that's using a lot of energy."

"Well Mercer does keep the life support in that section of the city running."

"I know, but this is more energy than just basic life support. There's something there eating energy. Just barely enough that anyone who wasn't looking for anything out of the ordinary would miss it."

Hailey's heart soared. They were so close now, so close to the truth. But, fear still lingered in the back of her throat, the urge to tell Chen to shut it off and run away.

No. Not when they were this close.

"How should we play this?" Hailey muttered. "Sam, what's your take on this?" Arcturus was also a military leader so she could use her input.

"This will need to be a dedicated assault," Arcturus said, stepping forward and looking at the screen.

"Should we inform General Mercer?" Soren asked.

"No, and we must attack as soon as possible."

"Why?" Chen asked. "What's the hurry?"

"When Captain Grogan came close to uncovering their operation, they created an accident to kill him. The longer we wait the more time we give them to do the same to us. And informing the General runs the risk of making them aware of our progress. And if they are already aware, they may do something drastic to keep us silent. They have already failed an attempt on Major Hailey's life."

"So, hit them before they can do anything," Hailey summarized.

"The difficulty is in the approach," Arcturus added. "If they know we are coming they may set an ambush."

"Are there any ventilation shafts?" Soren asked. "We may be able to use the ventilation as our approach."

"Yeah, sorry but we don't bend like you do," Chen snarked incredulously.

"Mister Stavig," Samanya said. "Are you able to navigate through the ventilation?"

"I've looked at Millennium's vents," Soren said. "I believe I can."

"Woah, woah, back up," Chen said. "Just because Soren can go ghost his way through the vent shafts doesn't mean we can. A: we don't bend that way. And B: I still can't imagine climbing through it without making enough ruckus to wake the dead."

"If Mister Stavig can do this then we only need him to. At the moment whoever is responsible knows Major Hailey and I are involved. We still travel through the halls to try to draw their attention. Mister Stavig will travel through the ventilation. Doctor Chen, you will go through the maintenance tunnels. I believe they will not be expecting any intrusion from that direction."

"Oh great, the trash bin…"

"We will breach the room at the same time."

"We will need a method to coordinate other than radios," Soren said. "Even the click of the radio will echo through the vents."

"We'll use ear pieces," Hailey said. "So only we can hear the clicks."

"We must move quickly," Arcturus said. "We do not know how much our enemy knows of us or how they will act. We strike tonight."

-.-

Nova's eyes opened. She was awakened by the sound of running footsteps. She groaned as she rose up out of bed. The first thing she did was look for a clock. Then she remembered she was still in Abor Lada. She doubted the jaffa even understood the value of clocks.

She glanced at the balcony. It was still night and pitch black. It looked like the silver aurora was gone.

She got up and walked over to the door, remembering jaffa didn't have peep holes either.

She opened the door to see several Grand Guard jaffa sprinting down the hall.

"What's going on?" Nova asked a jaffa running by but he didn't answer. Nova reached out to a female jaffa but she didn't even pause. "Hey, what's happening?" she asked another jaffa.

"Korush'nai!" he yelled back at her as he ran past.

"And what does that mean?!"

Nova sighed in exasperation. Something had the jaffa riled up. Finally she saw a familiar face.

"Peterson!" Nova called, running up to him. "Peterson, what's going on?"

"Major," Peterson gasped in surprise. "They approved it."

"Approved what?" Nova asked.

"The invasion! The jaffa and Tok'ra have agreed to help with the invasion. We're hitting the Lucian Alliance headquarters! We're hitting The Castle!"

-.-

**_A/N: Hello, and how are you? I intend to get back to exploration soon, I just need to wrap up this bit. But, as you can tell, it's about to hit a rather explosive climax. Anyways, so I get to continue expanding the jaffa. I think they're a lot cooler than the show let them be because of budget constraints. I mean, how many of you like at least one ancient warrior? Now imagine that warrior but all their standard weapons and gear had a scifi twist to them. That's the jaffa. And now we get to see how the humans are doing. There was a severe lack of exploration of what happened to the humans after the goa'uld. We get like one scene in one episode. So this intends to expand upon it. I do also intend to make much greater use of sleepers in the future. I thought it be cool to play with sarcophagus addiction. _**

**_And finally is the conspiracy side of things. My head is starting to spin trying to remember all the details of who knows what and who trusts who and who has what goal. I actually look forward to having it end. I wanted to try to play with tactics more. It wasn't just Chen and Hailey trying to discover the truth. I included the scenes with The Director to show what he's planning to have a bit of a chess match between the two sides, both of them trying to outmaneuver the other. Hailey doesn't tell ppl because she's afraid of endangering their lives. The Director is happy she doesn't because it means it's easier to hide. Soren leaves sand to expose anyone following. The Director's minion figures out Soren and Chen are involved because sand was left behind. You get the picture. _**

**_Anyways, I hope you enjoy. Please let me know what you guys think. Also shoutout to taleanaomi for beta reading this. _**


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